Page:On Radiation.djvu/74

 the latter being in fact nothing more than the heaped-up motion of the former. For it is the calorific waves emitted by the sun which heat our air, produce our winds, and hence agitate our ocean. And whether they break in foam upon the shore, or rub silently against the ocean's bed, or subside by the mutual friction of their own parts, the sea-waves finally resolve themselves into waves of ether, and thus regenerate the motion from which their temporary existence was derived. This connexion is typical. Nature is not an aggregate of independent parts, but an organic whole. If you open a piano and sing into it, a certain string will respond. Change the pitch of your voice; the first string ceases to vibrate, but another replies. Change again the pitch; the first two strings are silent, while another resounds. Now in altering the pitch you simply change the form of the motion communicated by your vocal chords to the air, one string responding to one form, and another to another. And thus is sentient man sung unto by Nature, while the optic, the auditory, and other nerves of the human body are so many strings differently tuned and responsive to different forms of the universal power. CAMBRIDGE; PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.