122 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE OPvGANISM 



offered in any way during life, as far as they can be denned 

 as states and changes of bodies in space ; and all the facts 

 we have discussed could be denned in this manner. 



It follows from the great variety of biological subjects 

 that biology, if understood in its full sense, comes face to 

 face with many special sciences, borrowing something from 

 each of them ; only then can biology be said to be complete, 1 

 and to be a material that is well prepared for the philosophy 

 of organic nature. 



1 Only one field of problematic biological phenomena has not been taken 

 into account altogether, as I feel quite unable to judge here personally in 

 any way. I refer to the so-called spiritualistic phenomena. The reader 

 may refer for this subject to the critical publications of the "Society for 

 Psychical Research," Frank Podmore's Studies in Psychical Research (London, 

 1897) giving an excellent survey of the same. The only thing that seems 

 to be established beyond all doubt is "telepathy"; and even telepathy 

 might perhaps some day be understood as being a phenomenon of radiation 

 comparable with wireless telegraphy. The only new thing in it would then 

 be the facility of man to put special parts of his brain into a special state 

 voluntarily, as he can do with his muscles. That at least would be the 

 most simple theory. Of course, there might be at work also something 

 absolutely different (see the end of Podmore's book). What we have called 

 (with Semon) engrammata would in some way be comparable with what 

 possibly is transmitted in telepathy (see page 98). 



