ains _all_.
Matter, electricity, light, heat, magnetism--all can be reduced to the
ultimate unit. So, Mr. Oakham, I am going to make clear to you how life
itself is electronic."

His long finger touched Hale's arm. "You, I, yonder mosquito on your
sleeve, even one of the germs that is causing my malaria, all being
individual living things, are the ultimate units of what I shall
personify as the Mind. When I say _you_ I do not speak of that mound of
flesh in which you exist, and which can be reduced to the same familiar
basic elements and compounds as make up inorganic structures; I speak of
your mind, your consciousness--for that is the real you. Are you
following me?"

"Perfectly, Sir Basil." Hale reached for another drink. "But do you
mean to say that you and I are no more than a mosquito, a malaria
protozoan, or even one of those trees in the jungle?"

Sir Basil's dry skin slipped back into a long smile. "Startling,
isn't it? You, I, and all other living organisms are nothing but
matter, energy and consciousness. You and I have a larger share of
consciousness, because our organic structure permits the mind-electrons
greater freedom over the matter than composes our bodies. We are more
acutely aware of the universe about us, have a greater facility for
enjoyment and suffering, a more intricate brain and nervous system.
Yet when our bodies die and our consciousness is released, the
mind-electrons enslaved by our atoms go back to the elemental Whole.
This holds good for the protozoan, the tree, the man--for all things
that live."

* * * * *

Hale was drinking again. "You mean, Sir Basil, that there is a sort of
war waged against what you personify as the Mind by matter; that matter
is constantly seeking to enslave mind-electrons, so that it may become
an organism which, for awhile, may enjoy what we call life?"

Sir Basil pushed back his tufted hair and looked happy. "Yes! And it's
Nature's supreme blunder! In the end, the Mind always conquers and gains
its release, yet the eternal chain of enslavement goes on and on, and
will continue to go on as long as there is a living organism in the
world to bind mind to matter."

Hale was excited now, as much from the fiery intoxicant as from the
scientist's weird revelation. "I get you," he said, rather inelegantly
for a professor. "You mean that if every living thing in the world
should pass out, every man, every plant, every animal, even