﻿THE 
  UNFATHOMED 
  UNIVERSE 
  17 
  

  

  of 
  scientific 
  procedure, 
  which 
  makes 
  headway 
  by 
  abstraction. 
  

   Divide 
  et 
  impera 
  is 
  the 
  scientific 
  rule. 
  The 
  scientific 
  de- 
  

   scription 
  of 
  Nature 
  is 
  made 
  up 
  of 
  many 
  partial 
  views 
  con- 
  

   tributed 
  by 
  the 
  several 
  sciences. 
  We 
  have 
  to 
  confine 
  our 
  

   attention 
  at 
  a 
  given 
  time 
  to 
  certain 
  aspects 
  of 
  a 
  thing 
  or 
  

   process. 
  We 
  treat 
  of 
  the 
  mass 
  of 
  a 
  body 
  as 
  if 
  we 
  had 
  the 
  

   body 
  under 
  the 
  influence 
  of 
  gravitation 
  only, 
  though 
  we 
  

   know 
  that 
  we 
  cannot 
  secure 
  the 
  entire 
  absence 
  of 
  electrical, 
  

   magnetic, 
  and 
  other 
  forces. 
  Science 
  works 
  with 
  perfect 
  

   levers, 
  with 
  pure 
  masses, 
  < 
  ideal 
  systems 
  ' 
  in 
  general- 
  

   which 
  we 
  do 
  not 
  meet 
  in 
  everyday 
  life. 
  

  

  In 
  certain 
  cases 
  the 
  abstracting 
  is 
  obvious 
  and 
  not 
  danger- 
  

   ous; 
  in 
  other 
  cases 
  it 
  escapes 
  attention 
  and 
  leads 
  to 
  fallacy. 
  

   We 
  know 
  that 
  biologically 
  we 
  cannot 
  abstract 
  the 
  trout 
  from 
  

   the 
  stream; 
  even 
  for 
  the 
  purposes 
  of 
  analytical 
  anatomy 
  we 
  

   must 
  remember 
  the 
  environment, 
  still 
  more 
  when 
  dynamical 
  

   relations 
  are 
  considered. 
  This 
  is 
  obvious, 
  but 
  is 
  it 
  so 
  ob- 
  

   vious 
  that 
  a 
  theory 
  of 
  animal 
  behaviour 
  which 
  reduces 
  all 
  

   to 
  l 
  forced 
  movements 
  ' 
  or 
  tropisms 
  is 
  the 
  outcome 
  of 
  ' 
  a 
  

   process 
  of 
  abstraction 
  which 
  leaves 
  out 
  the 
  characteristic 
  

   features 
  of 
  the 
  concrete 
  fact 
  to 
  be 
  explained 
  ", 
  the 
  plasticity, 
  

   the 
  endeavour, 
  the 
  awareness 
  of 
  the 
  organism 
  ? 
  

  

  (e) 
  When 
  we 
  take 
  the 
  long 
  and 
  wide 
  philosophical 
  view 
  

   of 
  a 
  subject, 
  trying 
  to 
  see 
  the 
  phenomena 
  or 
  the 
  process 
  as 
  

   a 
  whole, 
  the 
  inevitable 
  limitations 
  of 
  science 
  must 
  be 
  borne 
  

   in 
  mind. 
  If 
  all 
  Animate 
  Nature 
  is 
  the 
  outcome 
  of 
  a 
  few 
  

   Protists, 
  we 
  must 
  see 
  these 
  in 
  the 
  light 
  of 
  the 
  evolution 
  as 
  

   a 
  whole. 
  " 
  The 
  true 
  nature 
  of 
  the 
  antecedents, 
  that 
  is 
  to 
  

   say, 
  of 
  the 
  apparent 
  cause, 
  is 
  revealed 
  only 
  in 
  the 
  effects 
  ' 
  

   (Pringle-Pattison, 
  1917, 
  p. 
  332) 
  ; 
  or 
  should 
  one 
  not 
  say 
  the 
  

   full 
  nature? 
  If 
  we 
  believe 
  that 
  Tyndall's 
  " 
  matter 
  " 
  (Brit- 
  

   ish 
  Association 
  Address, 
  Belfast, 
  1874), 
  with 
  its 
  famous 
  

  

  