﻿THE 
  UNIQUENESS 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  163 
  

  

  organismal 
  enregistration 
  of 
  past 
  experiences, 
  individual 
  and 
  

   racial. 
  We 
  must 
  bear 
  in 
  mind 
  that 
  organismal 
  reactions 
  are 
  

   often 
  very 
  precise 
  the 
  North 
  Sea 
  will 
  not 
  suit 
  the 
  eel, 
  it 
  

   must 
  move 
  on; 
  that 
  they 
  are 
  often 
  extraordinarily 
  insistent, 
  

   as 
  we 
  may 
  infer 
  from 
  Maitland's 
  experiments 
  on 
  Smolts 
  

   which 
  were 
  always 
  jumping 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  pond 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  when 
  

   they 
  should 
  naturally 
  have 
  been 
  leaving 
  fresh 
  water 
  ; 
  that 
  

   the 
  internal 
  adjustments 
  are 
  so 
  delicate 
  that 
  they 
  begin 
  to 
  

   operate 
  long 
  before 
  the 
  situation 
  is 
  at 
  all 
  critical 
  ; 
  and 
  that, 
  

   after 
  all, 
  what 
  we 
  see 
  is 
  an 
  active 
  searching 
  out 
  of 
  regions 
  or 
  

   conditions 
  of 
  optimum 
  stimulation. 
  

  

  7. 
  Speculative. 
  

  

  Such, 
  then, 
  is 
  the 
  position 
  which 
  may 
  be 
  called 
  descriptive 
  

   or 
  methodological 
  vitalism. 
  If 
  we 
  are 
  pressed 
  to 
  go 
  beyond 
  

   Science 
  in 
  the 
  endeavour 
  to 
  form 
  some 
  connected 
  reconstruc- 
  

   tion, 
  we 
  should 
  say 
  that 
  those 
  constellations 
  of 
  ' 
  matter 
  ' 
  

   and 
  i 
  energy 
  ' 
  which 
  we 
  call 
  organisms 
  afford 
  opportunity 
  

   for 
  the 
  expression 
  of 
  aspects 
  of 
  reality 
  which 
  are 
  undetect- 
  

   able 
  in 
  the 
  inorganic 
  doman. 
  ' 
  Matter 
  ' 
  and 
  i 
  energy 
  ' 
  are 
  

   scientific 
  concepts 
  defined 
  for 
  the 
  description 
  of 
  the 
  so- 
  

   called 
  physical 
  universe; 
  they 
  are 
  defined 
  by 
  certain 
  meth- 
  

   ods 
  the 
  intellectual 
  instruments 
  of 
  physics 
  and 
  chemistry; 
  

   they 
  are 
  admittedly 
  reached 
  by 
  processes 
  of 
  abstraction. 
  In 
  

   dealing 
  with 
  the 
  outer 
  world 
  apart 
  from 
  life, 
  these 
  formulae 
  

   work 
  well, 
  but 
  we 
  find 
  no 
  warrant 
  for 
  asserting 
  that 
  they 
  

   exhaust 
  the 
  reality 
  of 
  Nature. 
  They 
  correspond 
  to 
  reality, 
  

   for 
  we 
  risk 
  our 
  lives 
  on 
  this 
  correspondence, 
  but 
  it 
  does 
  not 
  

   follow 
  that 
  they 
  are 
  exhaustive. 
  Reality 
  is 
  richer 
  than 
  they. 
  

   For 
  just 
  as 
  a 
  physician 
  may 
  on 
  occasions 
  treat 
  his 
  patient 
  

   successfully 
  without 
  recognising 
  him 
  as 
  a 
  rational 
  being 
  at 
  

   all, 
  yet 
  will 
  on 
  other 
  occasions 
  fail 
  grievously 
  through 
  not 
  

  

  