Explore "The Breath of Life" by John Burroughs on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Where, then, shall we look for the key to this mysterious thing we call life? Modern biochemistry will not listen to the old notion of a vital force -- that is only a metaphysical will-o'-the-wisp that leaves us floundering in the quagmire. If I question the forces about me, what answer do I get? Molecular attraction and repulsion seem to say, "It is not in us; we are as active in the clod as in the flower. " The four principal elements -- oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon -- say, "It is not in us, because we are from all eternity, and life is not; we form only its physical basis. " Warmth and moisture say, "It is not in us; we are only its faithful nurses and handmaidens. " The sun says: "It is not in me; I shine on dead worlds as well. I but quicken life after it is planted. " The stars say, "It is not in us; we have seen life come and go among myriads of worlds for untold ages. " No questioning of the heavens above nor of the earth below can reveal to us the secret we are in quest of.
I can fancy brute matter saying to life: "You tarry with me at your peril. You will always be on the firing-line of my blind, contending forces; they will respect you not; you must take your chances amid my flying missiles. My forces go their eternal round without variableness or shadow of turning, and woe to you if you cross their courses. You may bring all your gods with you -- gods of love, mercy, gentleness, altruism; but I know them not. Your prayers will fall upon ears of stone, your appealing gesture upon eyes of stone, your cries for mercy upon hearts of stone. I shall be neither your enemy nor your friend. I shall be utterly indifferent to you. My floods will drown you, my winds wreck you, my fires burn you, my quicksands suck you down, and not know what they are doing. My earth is a theatre of storms and cyclones, of avalanches and earthquakes, of lightnings and cloudbursts; wrecks and ruins strew my course. All my elements and forces are at your service; all my fluids and gases and solids; my stars in their courses will fight on your side, if you put and keep yourself in right relations to them.