1279. Here one will perhaps claim that the Earth is a mass that was torn from the sun at one time, and is therefore really a mere fragment of it, but a fragment that, because of its separation from the sun and the smallness of its size and mass in relation to that of the sun, must of course have cooled down more rapidly than the mass of the sun itself. But even if this fact were true of the Earth, this could not change anything about its very principle of evolution or its identity as a "living being". All planets have been, so to speak, torn from the larger suns or fiery masses to which they were connected during their transition from being a spiritual mass of rays to being a physical mass of rays. That something has been connected to a greater mass of the same kind of substance is of course no guarantee or proof that the separated part is not independent or individual. All cell development occurs through division. And the reproduction of many plants occurs similarly through division (cuttings or offshoots), just as it cannot be entirely denied that, among mammals, the formation of an embryo and its ensuing separation from the mother's body is a kind of division. The principle of a solar mass being thrown out into space from a larger solar mass and thereafter containing within itself all the prerequisites for forming an independent planet with living, thinking beings must, however, be recognised as something greater than a mere fragment of a broken, glowing, blazing mineral phenomenon. Its principle cannot be compared to that of a broken fragment from an earthenware dish, a cup or a glass that has been broken into pieces. Such broken fragments show no sign of being able to continue an independent development towards organic, animal life. Every division of a body that results in an independently continuing life for every part that is separated by division from the mother body can be but a kind of "birth".