ing else but
the final struggle of the wild mass against the lawfully progressive,
life-giving, systematic course to which it is compelled, contrary to
its own impulse. They can be nothing but the last concussive strokes
in the formation of our globe, now about to perfect itself. That
opposition must gradually become weaker and at last exhausted, since,
in the lawful course of things, there can be nothing that should renew
its power. That formation must at last be perfected, and our destined
abode complete. Nature must gradually come into a condition in which
we can count with certainty upon her equal step, and in which her
power shall keep unaltered a definite relation with that power which
is destined to govern it, that is, the human. So far as this relation
already exists and the systematic development of Nature has gained
firm footing, the workmanship of man, by its mere existence and its
effects, independent of any design on the part of the author, is
destined to react upon Nature and to represent in her a new and
life-giving principle. Cultivated lands are to quicken and mitigate
the sluggish, hostile atmosphere of the eternal forests, wildernesses,
and morasses. Well-ordered and diversified culture is to diffuse
through the air a new principle of life and fructification, and the
sun to send forth its most animating beams into that atmosphere which
is breathed by a healthy, industrious, and ingenious people. Science,
awakened, at first, by the pressure of necessity, shall hereafter
penetrate deliberately and calmly into the unchangeable laws of
Nature, overlook her whole power, and learn to calculate her possible
developments--shall form for itself a new Nature in idea, attach
itself closely to the living and active, and follow hard upon her
footsteps. And all knowledge which reason has wrung from Nature shall
be preserved in the course of the times and become the foundation
of further knowledge, for the common understanding of our race. Thus
shall Nature become ever more transparent and penetrable to
human perception, even to its innermost secrets. And human power,
enlightened and fortified with its inventions, shall rule her with
ease and peacefully maintain the conquest once effected. By degrees,
there shall be needed no greater outlay of mechanical labor than the
human body requires for its development, cultivation and health. And
this labor shall cease to be a burden; for the rational being is not
destined to