4 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
sters which glide noiselessly along, lords of the ocean, 
down to the jelly-masses floating on the surface, and 
the banks of rocky coral built by jelly - animals 
in the midst of the dashing waves. With the ex- 
ception of the sandy deserts, there is no spot on the 
surface of the earth, in the depths of the ocean, or in 
the lower currents of the air, which is not filled with 
life whenever and wherever there is room. The one 
great law which all living beings obey is to " increase, 
multiply, and replenish the earth;" and there has been 
no halting in this work from the day when first into 
our planet from the bosom of the great Creator was 
breathed the breath of life, the invisible mother 
ever taking shape in her children. 
No matter whether there is room for more living 
forms or not, still they are launched into the world. 
The little seed, which will be stifled by other plants 
before it can put forth its leaves, nevertheless thrusts 
its tiny root into the ground and tries to send a 
feeble shoot upwards. Thousands and millions of 
insects are born into the world every moment, which 
can never live because there is not food enough for 
all. If there were only one single plant in the whole 
world to-day, and it produced fifty seeds in a year 
and could multiply unchecked, its descendants would 
cover the whole globe in nine years."" But, since 
other plants prevent it from spreading, thousands and 
thousands of its seeds and young plants must be 
formed only to perish. In the same way one pair 
of birds having four young ones each year, would, if 
all their children and descendants lived and multi- 
plied, produce two thousand million in fifteen years,t 
* Huxley. t Wallace. 
