5. Mineral, Plant And Animal Creation

Now in an epoch rather later than the period I described to you, when the greening became manifest and then faded away, we find that within this albuminous atmosphere there is a constant rising and falling of the chalk; chalk mist is followed by chalk rain. There was a period in the history of the Earth when what we know today as water-vapour and falling rain was a chalky substance, rising and falling. Then comes a strange development: the chalk is particularly attracted to the gelatinous, gristly masses; it permeates them, impregnates them with itself. And thanks to the Earth-forces which, as I told you, it contains, it dissolves the whole gelatinous mass which has formed as congealed albumen. The chalk takes from the heavens what the heavens have formed in the albuminous substance and carries it nearer to the Earth. And out of this the animals with calcareous bones came into being.