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164
Glaucus; Or, The Wonders of the Shore
·
Charles Kingsley
103
“Knowest
thou
how
the
bones
grow
in
the
womb?”
asks
the
Jewish
sage,
sadly,
half
self-reprovingly,
as
he
discovers
that
man
is
not
the
measure
of
all
things,
and
that
in
much
learning
may
be
vanity
and
vexation
of
spirit,
and
in
much
study
a
weariness
of
the
flesh;
and
all
our
deeper
physical
science
only
brings
the
same
question
more
awfully
near.
“Vilior
algâ,”
more
worthless
than
the
very
sea-weed,
says
the
old
Roman:
and
yet
no
torn
scrap
of
that
very
sea-weed,
which
to-morrow
may
manure
the
nearest
garden,
but
says
to
us,
“Proud
man!
talking
of
spores
and
vesicles,
if
thou
darest
for
a
moment
to
fancy
that
to
have
seen
spores
and
vesicles
is
to
have
seen
me,
or
to
know
what
I
am,
answer
this.
Knowest
thou
how
the
bones
do
grow
in
the
womb?
Knowest
thou
even
how
one
of
these
tiny
black
dots,
which
thou
callest
spores,
grow
on
my
fronds?”
And
to
that
question
what
answer
shall
we
make?
We
see
tissues
divide,
cells
develop,
processes
go
on—
but
How
and
Why?
These
are
but
phenomena;
but
what
are
phenomena
save
effects?
Causes,
it
may
be,
of
other
effects;
but
still
effects
of
other
causes.
And
why
does
the
cause
cause
that
effect?
Why
should
it
not
cause
something
else?
Why
should
it
cause
anything
at
all?
Because
it
obeys
a
law.
But
why
does
it
obey
the
law?
and
how
does
it
obey
the
law?
And,
after
all,
what
is
a
law?
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