proceedings.

This arming of one creature against another is often cited as an
evidence of the wisdom of Nature, but it is rather an evidence of
her impartiality. She does not care a fig more for one creature
than for another, and is equally on the side of both, or perhaps it
would be better to say she does not care a fig for either. Every
creature must take its chances, and man is no exception. We can
ride if we know how and are going her way, or we can be run over if
we fall or make a mistake. Nature does not care whether the hunter
slay the beast or the beast the hunter; she will make good compost
of them both, and her ends are prospered whichever succeeds.

"If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again."

What is the end of Nature? Where is the end of a sphere? The
sphere balances at any and every point. So everything in Nature is
at the top, and yet no _one_ thing is at the top.

She works with reference to no measure of time, no limit of space,
and with an abundance of material, not expressed by exhaustless.
Did you think Niagara a great exhibition of power? What is that,
then, that withdraws noiseless and invisible in the ground about,
and of which Niagara is but the lifting of the finger?

Nature is thoroughly selfish, and looks only to her own ends. One
thing she is bent upon, and that is keeping up the supply,