The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-02-13

led TO look to n beginning IN which the Particles
OF matter were in a difuse chaotic state, but en-
led to look to an end in which the whole universe
will be one equally heated inert mass, and from
which everything like life or motion or beauty
will have utterly gone away.
ORGANIZED TISSUES ARE sUBJECT TO DECAY.
We have thus learned two things, for 10 the
fret place We have learned that life is associated
with delicaey of construction, and IN the next
TART. 220) that delicacy Of construction implies
an unstable arrangement Of natural forces. We
have now 10 remark that the particular force
which is thus used by living beings is chemical
affinity Our bodies are, in truth, examples OF
an unstable arrangement Of chemical forces, and
the materials which eoupose them, If not liable
to sudden explosion, like Illuminating powder, are
yet pre-eminently the subjects of decay.
Now, this Is more than n mere general state
ment; it is a truth that admits of degrees, and in
virtue Of which those parts OF our bodies which
have, during life, the noblest and most delicate
Office 10 perform, are the very fret to perish when
life is extinct.
aoh DER the eye death most exerts his might,
Aud hurls the spirit from her throne Of lights
sinks those blue oIss IN their long las, s1aPss'
30 speaks the poet, and We have here an aspect
of things in which the lament of the poet becomes
the true Interpretation of nature.
Ultimate DEPENDENCE OF LIFE UPON THE Sun.
We have already Tart. 2O3) been led to recog-
nize the sun as the ultimate material source of all
the energy-which we possess, and we must now
regard him as the source likewise of all our deli
cacy Of construction. 1t requires the energy of
his high-.emperature rays so to WELD and mauip-
ulate the powerful forces of chemical affinity, 50
TO balance these various forces against each other
as to produce in the vegetable something which
will afford our frames not only energy, Tut also
delicacy of construction.
~Low-temperature heat would be utterly unable
to accomplish this. 1t consists of ethereal yibra-
tions which are not sufficiently rapid, and Of waves
that are not sufficiently short, for the purpose of
shaking asunder the constituents of compound
molecules.
1t thus appears that animals are, in more ways
than one, pensioners upon the suns bounty; and
those instances which at first sight appear to be
exceptions will, if studied sufficiently, only serve
to confirm the rule.
Thus the recent researches of DIR. Carpenter
and Professor Wyville Thomson have disclosed to
us the existence of minute living beings in the
deepest parts of the ocean, into which we may be
almost sure no solar ray can penetrate. How,
then, do those minute creatures obtain that en-
ergy and delicacy of construction without which
they cannot live? In other words, how are they
fed -
Now, the same naturalists who discovered the
existence of these creatures have recently fur
nished us with a very probable explanation of the
mystery. They think it highly probable that the
"hole OCEAN contains IN IL organic matter 10 Il
very small but yet perceptible extent, forming, as
they express it, a sort of diluted soup, which thus
becomes the food of these minute creatures.
In conclusion, we are dependent upon the sun
and centre Of our system not only for the mere
energy Of our frames, but also for our delicacy of
construction-the future of our race depends upon
the suns future. But we see that the sun must
have had a beginning, so that he will have an end.
We arc thus induced to generalize still further,
and regard, not only our own system, but the
whole material universe, when viewed with re-
spect to seryicable energy, as essentially evane-
scent. and as embracing a succession of physical
events which cannot go on for ever as they are.
But here, at length, We come to matters beyond
our grasp, for physical science cannot inform us
what must have been before the beginning, nor
yet can it tell what will take place after the end.