B1227 <=> B1229 (BTG XLVIII From the Author, p. 1228)

All the water of one stream, soon after passing this place, flows into a still more level valley, and with no surrounding what is called “majestic and picturesque” scenery to hinder it, ultimately flows into the vast ocean.

The second stream, continuing its flow over places formed by the consequences of the said “cataclysm not according to law,” ultimately falls into crevices in the earth, themselves also consequences of the same cataclysm, and seeps into the very depths of the earth.

Although after the branching of the waters the waters of both these streams flow further independently and no longer mingle, yet along the whole extent of their further course, they frequently approach so near each other that all the results engendered from the process of their flowing blend, and even at times during great atmospheric phenomena, such as storms, winds, and so on, splashes of water, or even separate drops pass from one stream into the other.

Individually the life of every man up to his reaching responsible age corresponds to a drop of water in the initial flow of the river, and the place where the dividing of the waters occurs corresponds to the time when he attains adulthood.

After this branching, any considerable subsequent movement, according to law, both of this river as well as of any of the small details of this movement for the actualization of the predetermined destination of the whole river, applies equally to every separate drop, just in so far as the given drop is in the general totality of this river.

For the drop itself, all its own displacements, directions, and states caused by the differences of its position, by its various accidentally arisen surrounding conditions, and by the accelerated or retarded tempo of its movement, have always a totally accidental character.