Abstract:
The study of literature is enriched by an understanding of man's changing view of his place in nature. That view has been determined by the Great Chain of Being, Darwinian evolution, and the concept of spaceship earth. The Immense Journey, by Loren Eiseley, and The Lives of a Cell, by Lewis Thomas, are collections of essays by contemporary scientists who share a new view: man is embedded in nature. Their differing scientific disciplines, however, make their ideas of nature differ. Lewis Thomas finds the living world so cooperative and symbiotic that it can best be compared to a single cell.
