There seems to be a kind of order in the universe, in the movement of the stars and the turning of the earth and the changing of the seasons, and even in the cycle of human life. But human life itself is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes his stance, asserts his own rights and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and his own.
The gradualness of growth is a characteristic which strikes the simplest observer. Long before the word Evolution was coined Christ applied it in this very connection--"First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." It is well known also to those who study the parables of Nature that there is an ascending scale of slowness as we rise in the scale of Life. Growth is most gradual in the highest forms. Man attains his maturity after a score of years; the monad completes its humble cycle in a day. What wonder if development be tardy in the Creature of Eternity? A Christian's sun has sometimes set, and a critical world has seen as yet no corn in the ear. As yet? "As yet," in this long Life, has not begun. Grant him the years proportionate to his place in the scale of Life. "The time of harvest is NOT YET." Natural Law, p. 92.
I want to break out — to leave this cycle of infection and death. I want to be taken in love: so taken that you and I, and death, and life, will be gathered inseparable, into the radiance of what we would become...
And, oh! what beautiful years were these When our hearts clung each to each; When life was filled and our senses thrilled In the first faint dawn of speech. Thus life by life and love by love We passed through the cycles strange, And breath by breath and death by death We followed the chain of change.
What does it take for Americans to do great things; to go to the moon, to win wars, to dig canals linking oceans, to build railroads across a continent? In independent thought about this question, Neil Armstrong and I concluded that it takes a coincidence of four conditions, or in Neil's view, the simultaneous peaking of four of the many cycles of American life. First, a base of technology must exist from which to do the thing to be done. Second, a period of national uneasiness about America's place in the scheme of human activities must exist. Third, some catalytic event must occur that focuses the national attention upon the direction to proceed. Finally, an articulate and wise leader must sense these first three conditions and put forth with words and action the great thing to be accomplished. The motivation of young Americans to do what needs to be done flows from such a coincidence of conditions. ... The Thomas Jeffersons, The Teddy Roosevelts, The John Kennedys appear. We must begin to create the tools of leadership which they, and their young frontiersmen, will require to lead us onward and upward. -- Dr. Harrison H. Schmidt
Very few things actually get manufactured these days, because in an infinitely large Universe, such as the one in which we live, most things one could possibly imagine, and a lot of things one would rather not, grow somewhere. A forest was discovered recently in which most of the trees grew ratchet screwdrivers as fruit. The life<b> cycle of the ratchet screwdriver is quite interesting. Once picked it needs a dark dusty drawer in which it can lie undisturbed for years. Then one night it suddenly hatches, discards its outer skin that crumbles into dust, and emerges as a totally unidentifiable little metal object with flanges at both ends and a sort of ridge and a hole for a screw. This, when found, will get thrown away. No one knows what the screwdriver is supposed to gain from this. Nature, in her infinite wisdom, is presumably working on it.
The process of putrefaction takes place in masses of badly-digested food, and may be combated by careful dieting, avoidance of rich foods of all kinds and particularly of flesh and alcohol. Putrefaction, however, cannot take place except in the presence of a particular group of bacteria, the entrance of which to the body can be prevented to a certain extent. But it would be impossible or impracticable to secure a sterilized diet, and Metchnikoff urges that the bacteria of putrefaction can be replaced or suppressed by another set of microbes. He found that there was a widely spread popular belief in the advantage of diet consisting largely of products of soured milk and that there was a fair parallel between unusual longevity and such a diet. Experimentally he showed that the presence of the bacilli which produce lactic acid inhibited the process of putrefaction. Accordingly he recommends that the diet of human beings should include preparations of milk soured by cultures of selected lactic acid bacilli, or that the spores of such bacilli should be taken along with food favourable to their development. In a short time the bacilli establish themselves in the large intestine and rapidly stop putrefactive change. The treatment has not yet been persisted in sufficiently long by a sufficient number of different persons to be accepted as universally satisfactory, and there is even more difference of opinion as to Metchnikoff's theory that the chief agent in senile degeneration is the stimulation of phagocytes by the products of putrefaction with the resulting destruction of the specific cells of the tissues. Metchnikoff, however, gave it to the world, not as a proved and completed doctrine, but as the line of inquiry that he himself had found most promising. He has suggested further that if the normal specific longevity were attained by human beings, old and not degenerate individuals would lose the instinct for life and acquire an instinct for death, and that as they had fulfilled the normal cycle of life, they would accept death with the same relieved acquiescence that they now accept sleep. Entry: A
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, A medley of extemporanea; And love is thing that can never go wrong; And I am Marie of Roumania. -- Dorothy Parker, "Comment"
prototype, n.: First stage in the life<b> cycle of a computer product, followed by pre-alpha, alpha, beta, release version, corrected release version, upgrade, corrected upgrade, etc. Unlike its successors, the prototype is not expected to work.
_Life-cycles of the Hydromedusae._--The life<b>-cycle of the Leptolinae consists of an alternation of generations in which non-sexual individuals, polyps, produce by budding sexual individuals, medusae, which give rise by the sexual process to the non-sexual polyps again, so completing the cycle. Hence the alternation is of the type termed metagenesis. The Leptolinae are chiefly forms belonging to the inshore fauna. The Trachylinae, on the other hand, are above all oceanic forms, and have no polyp-stage, and hence there is typically no alternation in their life<b>-cycle. It is commonly assumed that the Trachylinae are forms which have lost the alternation of generations possessed by them ancestrally, through secondary simplification of the life<b>-cycle. Hence the Trachylinae are termed "hypogenetic" medusae to contrast them with the metagenetic Leptolinae. The whole question has, however, been argued at length by W. K. Brooks [4], who adduces strong evidence for a contrary view, that is to say, for regarding the direct type of development seen in Trachylinae as more primitive, and the metagenesis seen in Leptolinae as a secondary complication introduced into the life<b>-cycle by the acquisition of _larval budding_. The polyp is regarded, on this view, as a form phylogenetically older than the medusa, in short, as nothing more than a sessile actinula. In Trachylinae the polyp-stage is passed over, and is represented only by the actinula as a transitory embryonic stage. In Leptolinae the actinula becomes the sessile polyp which has acquired the power of budding and producing individuals either of its own or of a higher rank; it represents a persistent larval stage and remains in a sexually immature condition as a neutral individual, sex being an attribute only of the final stage in the development, namely the medusa. The polyp of the Leptolinae has reached the limit of its individual development and is incapable of becoming itself a medusa, but only produces medusa-buds; hence a true alternation of generations is produced. In Trachylinae also the beginnings of a similar metagenesis can be found. Thus in _Cunina octonaria_, the ovum develops into an actinula which buds daughter-actinulae; all of them, both parent and offspring, develop into medusae, so that there is no alternation of generations, but only larval multiplication. In _Cunina parasitica_, however, the ovum develops into an actinula, which buds actinulae as before, but only the daughter-actinulae develop into medusae, while the original, parent-actinula dies off; here, therefore, larval budding has led to a true alternation of generations. In _Gonionemus_ the actinula becomes fixed and polyp-like, and reproduces by budding, so that here also an alternation of generations may occur. In the Leptolinae we must first substitute polyp for actinula, and then a condition is found which can be compared to the case of _Cunina parasitica_ or Gonionemus, if we suppose that neither the parent-actinula (i.e. founder-polyp) nor its offspring by budding (polyps of the colony) have the power of becoming medusae, but only of producing medusae by budding. For further arguments and illustrations the reader must be referred to Brooks's most interesting memoir. The whole theory is one most intimately connected with the question of the relation between polyp and medusa, to be discussed presently. It will be seen elsewhere, however, that whatever view may be held as to the origin of metagenesis in Hydromedusae, in the case of Scyphomedusae (q.v.) no other view is possible than that the alternation of generations is the direct result of larval proliferation. Entry: FIG
HELDENBUCH, DAS, the title under which a large body of German epic poetry of the 13th century has come down to us. The subjects of the individual poems are taken from national German sagas which originated in the epoch of the Migrations (_Völkerwanderung_), although doubtless here, as in all purely popular sagas, motives borrowed from the forces and phenomena of nature were, in course of time, woven into events originally historical. While the saga of the Nibelungs crystallized in the 13th century into the _Nibelungenlied_ (q.v.), and the Low German Hilde-saga into the epic of _Gudrun_ (q.v.) the poems of the _Heldenbuch_, in the more restricted use of that term, belong almost exclusively to two cycles, (1) the Ostrogothic saga of Ermanrich, Dietrich von Bern (i.e. Dietrich of Verona, Theodorich the Great) and Etzel (Attila), and (2) the cycle of Hugdietrich, Wolfdietrich and Ortnit, which like the _Nibelungen_ saga, was probably of Franconian origin. The romances of the _Heldenbuch_ are of varying poetic value; only occasionally do they rise to the height of the two chief epics, the _Nibelungenlied_ and _Gudrun_. Dietrich von Bern, the central figure of the first and more important group, was the ideal type of German medieval hero, and, under more favourable literary conditions, he might have become the centre of an epic more nationally German than even the _Nibelungenlied_ itself. Of the romances of this group, the chief are _Biterolf und Dietlieb_, evidently the work of an Austrian poet, who introduced many elements from the court epic of chivalry into a milieu and amongst characters familiar to us from the _Nibelungenlied_. _Der Rosengarten_ tells of the conflicts which took place round Kriemhild's "rose garden" in Worms--conflicts from which Dietrich always emerges victor, even when he is confronted by Siegfried himself. In _Laurin und der kleine Rosengarten_, the Heldensage is mingled with elements of popular fairy-lore; it deals with the adventures of Dietrich and his henchman Witege with the wily dwarf Laurin, who watches over another rose garden, that of the Tyrol. Similar in character are the adventures of Dietrich with the giants Ecke (_Eckenlied_) and Sigenot, with the dwarf Goldemar, and the deeds of chivalry he performs for queen Virginal (_Dietrichs erste Ausfahrt_)--all of these romances being written in the fresh and popular tone characteristic of the wandering singers or _Spielleute_. Other elements of the Dietrich saga are represented by the poems _Alpharts Tod_, _Dietrichs Flucht_ and _Die Rabenschlacht_ ("Battle of Ravenna"). Of these, the first is much the finest poem of the entire cycle and worthy of a place beside the best popular poetry of the Middle High German epoch. Alphart, a young hero in Dietrich's army, goes out to fight single-handed with Witege and Heime, who had deserted to Ermanrich, and he falls, not in fair battle, but by the treachery of Witege whose life he had spared. The other two Dietrich epics belong to a later period, the end of the 13th century--the author being an Austrian, Heinrich der Vogler--and show only too plainly the decay that had by this time set in in Middle High German poetry. Entry: HELDENBUCH
Fam. _Haemogregarinidae._--The different genera are characterized chiefly by their size relative to the blood-corpuscles, and their disposition in the latter. Here, again, it has been suggested to unite the various types all in one genus, _Haemogregarina_, but this seems at least premature when it is remembered how little is known in most cases of the life<b>-cycle, which may prove to exhibit important divergences. Entry: FIG
But the story of the Ulster cycle which is better known than any other, is the story of the "Tragical Death of the Sons of Usnech, or the Life and Death of Deirdre," one of the "Three Sorrows of Story-telling." This is the only tale of the group which has survived in the minds of the common people down to the present day. It is foretold of Deirdre, a girl-child of great beauty, that she will be the cause of great misfortunes, but Conchobar, having lost his wife, determines to have her brought up in solitude and marry her himself. However, the maiden chances to see a noble youth named Naisi, one of the three sons of Usnech, and persuades him to carry her off to Scotland, where they live for many years. At length they are induced to return after several of the most prominent Ulster warriors have gone bail for their safety. But Conchobar resorts to treachery, and the three sons of Usnech are slain, whilst the account of Deirdre's end varies. The oldest version of the story is found in LL., and the characters are as rugged and unsophisticated as those of the _Táin_. But in the later versions the savage features are toned down. Entry: I
Christophers recently described some remarkable phases which he regarded as belonging to the cycle of _Haemogregarina gerbilli_ (one of the few Mammalian Haemogregarines known) in a louse (_Haematopinus_). In a private communication, however, the author states that he has probably mistaken phases in the development of an ordinary gregarine parasite in the louse for part of the life<b>-cycle of this Haemogregarine. Entry: FIG
The Manichaeans held that in every act of begetting, human or otherwise, a soul is condemned afresh to a cycle of misery by imprisonment in flesh--a thoroughly Indian notion, under the influence of which their perfect or elect ones scrupulously abstained from flesh. The prohibition of taking life, which they took over from the Farther East, in itself entailed fasting from flesh. A fully initiated Manichaean would not even cut his own salad, but employed a catechumen to commit on his behalf this act of murder, for which he subsequently shrived him. Entry: ASCETICISM
The special interest of Map lies in the perplexing question of his relation to the Arthurian legend and literature. He is invariably cited as the author of the _Lancelot_ proper (consisting of two parts), the _Queste_ and the _Mort Artus_, all three of which are now generally found in one manuscript under the title of _Lancelot_. The _Mort Artus_, however, we know to be the prose working over of an earlier and independent poem. Sundry manuscripts of the yet more extensive compilation which begins with the _Grand Saint Graal_ also refer to Map as having composed the cycle in conjunction with Robert de Borron, to whom, as a rule, the _Grand Saint Graal_ and _Merlin_ are exclusively assigned. The curious _Merlin_ text, Bibl. Nat. 337 (fonds Français), refers throughout to Map as authority; and the enormous _Lancelot_ codex, B. N. 112, a combination of the _Lancelot_ and the _Tristan_, also couples his name with that of Robert de Borron. In fact it may safely be said that, with the exception of the prose _Tristan_, always attributed either to Luces de Gast, or Hélie de Borron, the authority of Map has been invoked for the entire vast mass of Arthurian prose romantic literature. Now it is practically impossible that one man, and that one an occupier of court and public offices, constantly employed in royal and public business, very frequently travelling abroad (e.g. we know he was at Limoges in 1173; at Rome in 1179; in Anjou in 1183; and at Angers in 1199), could have found the necessary leisure. On this point we have the testimony of his one undoubted work, _De nugis curialium_, which he tells us he composed "by snatches" during his residence at court. _De nugis_ is a comparatively small book; if it were difficult to find leisure for that, much more would it have been difficult to find the time requisite for the composition of one only of the many long-winded romances which have been fathered on Map. Giraldus Cambrensis, with whom he was on most friendly terms, and who frequently refers to and quotes him, records a speech in which Map contrasted Giraldus' labours with his own, apparently to the disadvantage of the latter, "vos scripta dedistis, et nos verba"--a phrase which has been interpreted as meaning that Map himself had produced no literary work. But inasmuch as the _De nugis_ is undoubtedly, and certain satirical poems directed against the loose life of the clergy of the day most probably, his work, the speech must not be taken too literally. It seems difficult also to believe that Map's name should be so constantly connected with our Arthurian tradition without any ground whatever; though it must be admitted that he himself never makes any such claim--the references in the romances are all couched in the third person, and bear no sign of being other than the record by the copyist of a traditional attribution. Entry: MAP
To complete our survey of life<b>-cycles in the Hydromedusae it is necessary to add a few words about the position of _Hydra_ and its allies. If we accept the view that _Hydra_ is a true sexual polyp, and that its gonads are not gonophores (i.e. medusa-buds) in the extreme of degeneration, then it follows from Brooks's theory that _Hydra_ must be descended from an archaic form in which the medusan type of organization had not yet been evolved. _Hydra_ must, in short, be a living representative of the ancestor of which the actinula-stage is a transient reminiscence in the development of higher forms. It may be pointed out in this connexion that the fixation of _Hydra_ is only temporary, and that the animal is able at all times to detach itself, to move to a new situation, and to fix itself again. There is no difficulty whatever in regarding _Hydra_ as bearing the same relation to the actinula-stage of other Hydromedusae that a Rotifer bears to a trochophore-larva or a fish to a tadpole. Entry: FIG
In fresh-water Hydromedusae the life<b>-cycle is usually secondarily simplified, but in marine forms the life<b>-cycle may be extremely complicated, and a given species often passes in the course of its history through widely different forms adapted to different habitats and modes of life. Apart from larval or embryonic forms there are found typically two types of person, as already stated, the polyp and the medusa, each of which may vary independently of the other, since their environment and life-conditions are usually quite different. Hence both polyp and medusa present characters for classification, and a given species, genus or other taxonomic category may be defined by polyp-characters or medusa-characters or by both combined. If our knowledge of the life-histories of these organisms were perfect, their polymorphism would present no difficulties to classification; but unfortunately this is far from being the case. In the majority of cases we do not know the polyp corresponding to a given medusa, or the medusa that arises from a given polyp.[1] Even when a medusa is seen to be budded, from a polyp under observation in an aquarium, the difficulty is not always solved, since the freshly-liberated, immature medusa may differ greatly from the full-grown, sexually-mature medusa after several months of life on the high seas (see figs. 11, B, C, and 59, a, b, c). To establish the exact relationship it is necessary not only to breed but to rear the medusa, which cannot always be done in confinement. The alternative is to fish all stages of the medusa in its growth in the open sea, a slow and laborious method in which the chance of error is very great, unless the series of stages is very complete. Entry: HYDROMEDUSAE
Hake (1839) was, perhaps, the first to describe a Coccidian, but he regarded the parasites as pathological cell-products. In 1845 N. Lieberkühn pointed out the resemblances to Gregarines, with which organisms he considered Coccidia to be allied. A year later, H. Kloss proved the existence of similar parasites in the snail, and attempted to construct their life-history; this form was subsequently named _Klossia helicina_ by A. Schneider. The asexual part of the life<b>-cycle was first described by Th. Eimer in 1870, for a Coccidian infesting the mouse, which was afterwards elevated by Schneider into a distinct genus _Eimeria_. The generic name _Coccidium_ was introduced by R. Leuckart in 1879, for the parasite of the rabbit. It was many years, however, before the double character of the life<b>-cycle was realized, and the ideas of L. and R. Pfeiffer, who first suggested the possibility of an alternation of generations, for a long time found no favour. In the first decade of the 20th century great progress was accomplished, thanks largely to the researches of F. Schaudinn and M. Siedlecki, who first demonstrated the occurrence of sexual conjugation in the group; and the Coccidian life-history is now one of the best known among Sporozoa. Entry: COCCIDIA
Genus _Eucoccidium_. Lühe (syn. _Légerina_ Jacq.), Coccidia possessing polysporous oocysts and lacking schizogony, parasitic in Cephalopods. Two well-known species: _E. eberthi_ (Labbé), (=_Benedenia_ seu _Klossia e._ seu _octopiana_), parasitic in _Sepia_, which is tri- or tetra-zoic; and _E. octopianum_ (Schn.), (syn. _Benedenia_ seu _Klossia o._) from _Octopus_, which is polyzoic, having 10 to 12 sporozoites. In both forms cysts containing megaspores and megasporozoites, and others containing microspores and microsporozoites are found, considered as representing sexual differentiation thrown back to the very earliest stages of the life<b>-cycle. Entry: A
At the close of the 11th century and at the beginning of the 12th we find the vulgar tongue in France not merely in fully organized use for literary purposes, but already employed in most of the forms of poetical writing. An immense outburst of epic and narrative verse has taken place, and lyrical poetry, not limited as in the case of the epics to the north of France, but extending from Roussillon to the Pas de Calais, completes this. The 12th century adds to these earliest forms the important development of the mystery, extends the subjects and varies the manner of epic verse, and begins the compositions of literary prose with the chronicles of St Denis and of Villehardouin, and the prose romances of the Arthurian cycle. All this literature is so far connected purely with the knightly and priestly orders, though it is largely composed and still more largely dealt in by classes of men, trouvères and jongleurs, who are not necessarily either knights or priests, and in the case of the jongleurs are certainly neither. With a possible ancestry of Romance and Teutonic _cantilenae_, Breton _lais_, and vernacular legends, the new literature has a certain pattern and model in Latin and for the most part ecclesiastical compositions. It has the sacred books and the legends of the saints for examples of narrative, the rhythm of the hymns for a guide to metre, and the ceremonies of the church for a stimulant to dramatic performance. By degrees also, in this 12th century, forms of literature which busy themselves with the unprivileged classes begin to be born. The fabliau takes every phase of life for its subject; the folk-song acquires elegance and does not lose raciness and truth. In the next century, the 13th, medieval literature in France arrives at its prime--a prime which lasts until the first quarter of the 14th. The early epics lose something of their savage charms, the polished literature of Provence quickly perishes. But in the provinces which speak the more prevailing tongue nothing is wanting to literary development. The language itself has shaken off all its youthful incapacities, and, though not yet well adapted for the requirements of modern life and study, is in every way equal to the demands made upon it by its own time. The dramatic germ contained in the fabliau and quickened by the mystery produces the profane drama. Ambitious works of merit in the most various kinds are published; _Aucassin et Nicolette_ stands side by side with the _Vie de Saint Louis_, the _Jeu de la feuillie_ with _Le Miracle de Théophile_, the _Roman de la rose_ with the _Roman du Renart_. The earliest notes of ballads and rondeau are heard; endeavours are made with zeal, and not always without understanding, to naturalize the wisdom of the ancients in France, and in the graceful tongue that France possesses. Romance in prose and verse, drama, history, songs, satire, oratory and even erudition, are all represented and represented worthily. Meanwhile all nations of western Europe have come to France for their literary models and subjects, and the greatest writers in English, German, Italian, content themselves with adaptations of Chrétien de Troyes, of Benoit de Sainte More, and of a hundred other known and unknown trouvères and fabulists. But this age does not last long. The language has been put to all the uses of which it is as yet capable; those uses in their sameness begin to pall upon reader and hearer; and the enormous evils of the civil and religious state reflect themselves inevitably in literature. The old forms die out or are prolonged only in half-lifeless travesties. The brilliant colouring of Froissart, and the graceful science of ballade and rondeau writers like Lescurel and Deschamps, alone maintain the literary reputation of the time. Towards the end of the 14th century the translators and political writers import many terms of art, and strain the language to uses for which it is as yet unhandy, though at the beginning of the next age Charles d'Orléans by his natural grace and the virtue of the forms he used emerges from the mass of writers. Throughout the 15th century the process of enriching or at least increasing the vocabulary goes on, but as yet no organizing hand appears to direct the process. Villon stands alone in merit as in peculiarity. But in this time dramatic literature and the literature of the floating popular broadsheet acquire an immense extension--all or almost all the vigour of spirit being concentrated in the rough farce and rougher lampoon, while all the literary skill is engrossed by insipid _rhétoriqueurs_ and pedants. Then comes the grand upheaval of the Renaissance and the Reformation. An immense influx of science, of thought to make the science living, of new terms to express the thought, takes place, and a band of literary workers appear of power enough to master and get into shape the turbid mass. Rabelais, Amyot, Calvin and Herberay fashion French prose; Marot, Ronsard and Regnier refashion French verse. The Pléiade introduces the drama as it is to be and the language that is to help the drama to express itself. Montaigne for the first time throws invention and originality into some other form than verse or than prose fiction. But by the end of the century the tide has receded. The work of arrangement has been but half done, and there are no master spirits left to complete it. At this period Malherbe and Balzac make their appearance. Unable to deal with the whole problem, they determine to deal with part of it, and to reject a portion of the riches of which they feel themselves unfit to be stewards. Balzac and his successors make of French prose an instrument faultless and admirable in precision, unequalled for the work for which it is fit, but unfit for certain portions of the work which it was once able to perform. Malherbe, seconded by Boileau, makes of French verse an instrument suited only for the purposes of the drama of Euripides, or rather of Seneca, with or without its chorus, and for a certain weakened echo of those choruses, under the name of lyrics. No French verse of the first merit other than dramatic is written for two whole centuries. The drama soon comes to its acme, and during the succeeding time usually maintains itself at a fairly high level until the death of Voltaire. But prose lends itself to almost everything that is required of it, and becomes constantly a more and more perfect instrument. To the highest efforts of pathos and sublimity its vocabulary and its arrangement likewise are still unsuited, though the great preachers of the 17th century do their utmost with it. But for clear exposition, smooth and agreeable narrative, sententious and pointed brevity, witty repartee, it soon proves itself to have no superior and scarcely an equal in Europe. In these directions practitioners of the highest skill apply it during the 17th century, while during the 18th its powers are shown to the utmost of their variety by Voltaire, and receive a new development at the hands of Rousseau. Yet, on the whole, it loses during this century. It becomes more and more unfit for any but trivial uses, and at last it is employed for those uses only. Then occurs the Revolution, repeating the mighty stir in men's minds which the Renaissance had given, but at first experiencing more difficulty in breaking up the ground and once more rendering it fertile. The faulty and incomplete genius of Chateaubriand and Madame de Staël gives the first evidence of a new growth, and after many years the Romantic movement completes the work. Whether the force of that movement is now, after three-quarters of a century, spent or not, its results remain. The poetical power of French has been once more triumphantly proved, and its productiveness in all branches of literature has been renewed, while in that of prose fiction there has been almost created a new class of composition. In the process of reform, however, not a little of the finish of French prose style has been lost, and the language itself has been affected in something the same way as it was affected by the less judicious innovations of the Ronsardists. The pedantry of the Pléiade led to the preposterous compounds of Du Bartas; the passion of the Romantics for foreign tongues and for the _mot propre_ has loaded French with foreign terms on the one hand and with _argot_ on the other, while it is questionable whether the _vers libre_ is really suited to the French genius. There is, therefore, room for new Malherbes and Balzacs, if the days for Balzacs and Malherbes had not to all appearance passed. Should they be once more forthcoming, they have the failure as well as the success of their predecessors to guide them. Entry: MM