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  THE 
  UNIQUENESS 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  

  

  ence 
  between 
  organisms 
  and 
  things 
  in 
  general, 
  we 
  hold 
  to 
  

   what 
  we 
  believe 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  fact, 
  that 
  mechanical 
  formulae 
  do 
  

   not 
  begin 
  to 
  answer 
  the 
  distinctively 
  biological 
  questions. 
  

   We 
  do 
  not 
  doubt 
  the 
  value 
  of 
  bio-chemistry 
  and 
  bio-physics, 
  

   but 
  when 
  these 
  are 
  added 
  up 
  the 
  summation 
  is 
  not 
  biology. 
  

   We 
  need 
  new 
  concepts 
  such 
  as 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  organism 
  as 
  a 
  

   historic 
  being 
  which 
  has 
  traded 
  with 
  time, 
  and 
  has 
  en- 
  

   registered 
  within 
  itself 
  past 
  experiences 
  and 
  experiments, 
  

   and 
  which 
  has 
  ever 
  its 
  conative 
  bow 
  bent 
  towards 
  the 
  future. 
  

   We 
  need 
  these 
  new 
  concepts 
  because 
  there 
  are 
  new 
  facts 
  

   to 
  describe, 
  which 
  we 
  cannot 
  analyse 
  away 
  into 
  so-called 
  

   simpler 
  processes. 
  In 
  the 
  present 
  state 
  of 
  knowledge 
  we 
  

   cannot 
  tell 
  in 
  what 
  the 
  newness 
  essentially 
  consists. 
  This 
  

   appears 
  to 
  us 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  quite 
  legitimate 
  stopping-place, 
  without 
  

   going 
  on 
  (except 
  speculatively) 
  to 
  any 
  positive 
  vitalistic 
  

   theory 
  which 
  must 
  be, 
  from 
  the 
  nature 
  of 
  the 
  case, 
  meta- 
  

   physical. 
  

  

  The 
  best 
  statement 
  that 
  we 
  know 
  of 
  methodological 
  vital 
  - 
  

   is 
  that 
  given 
  by 
  Mr. 
  E. 
  S. 
  Russell, 
  and 
  we 
  take 
  one 
  of 
  

   his 
  illustrations 
  the 
  migration 
  of 
  the 
  European 
  eel 
  to 
  its 
  

   spawning 
  ground 
  in 
  the 
  deep, 
  warm, 
  and 
  salt 
  waters 
  on 
  the 
  

   verge 
  of 
  the 
  abyssal 
  Atlantic. 
  Chemical 
  and 
  physical 
  meth- 
  

   ods 
  can 
  tell 
  us 
  much 
  how 
  the 
  eel 
  gets 
  energy 
  for 
  its 
  long 
  

   journey, 
  and 
  a 
  score 
  of 
  other 
  things 
  ; 
  they 
  might 
  conceivably 
  

   give 
  us 
  an 
  account 
  of 
  every 
  transformation 
  of 
  energy 
  within 
  

   the 
  eel 
  from 
  the 
  time 
  it 
  left 
  the 
  pond 
  to 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  its 
  death 
  

   in 
  the 
  dark 
  abysses, 
  but 
  they 
  do 
  not 
  illumine 
  the 
  biological 
  

   fact 
  of 
  the 
  eel's 
  migration. 
  As 
  Mr. 
  Russell 
  says, 
  " 
  The 
  

   migration 
  is, 
  so 
  to 
  speak, 
  a 
  fact 
  of 
  a 
  higher 
  order 
  than 
  any 
  

   physical 
  or 
  chemical 
  fact, 
  although 
  it 
  is 
  made 
  up 
  of 
  an 
  in- 
  

   definitely 
  large 
  number 
  of 
  physical 
  and 
  chemical 
  facts. 
  To 
  

   explain 
  the 
  fact 
  one 
  must 
  accept 
  it 
  as 
  a 
  whole, 
  not 
  seek 
  

  

  