“Why, then, does water, which has no life-characteristics of its own, form the very basis of life in all life’s various manifestations? Because water embraces everything, is in and all through everything; because it rises above the distinctions between plants and animals and human beings; because it is a universal element shared by all; itself undetermined, yet determining; because, like the primal mother it is, it supplies the stuff of life to everything living.” —Theodor Schwenk