150 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORGANISM 



THE ORDER OF ENTELECHIES. ENTELECHY AND MACHINE- 

 WORK 



We know already that not every event that takes 

 place during morphogenesis and metabolism is the direct 

 outcome of entelechian acts, and it seems worth while to 

 say a few more words about this point. And first let us 

 remark once more that different kinds of entelechies may 

 be said to be at work in the organism. There is first the 

 entelechia morphogenetica, and after that the entelechia 

 psychoidea, and the latter may be discriminated as governing 

 instincts and actions separately. Furthermore, the different 

 parts of the brain, such as the hemispheres and the 

 cerebellum in vertebrates, may be said to possess their 

 different kinds of entelechy. In fact, we may speak of an 

 order concerning the rank or dignity of entelechies, compar- 

 able with the order of ranks or dignities in an army or 

 administration. But all entelechies have originated from 

 the primordial one, and in this respect may be said to be one 

 altogether. 



Now the primordial entelechy of the egg not only creates 

 derived entelechies but also builds up all sorts of arrange- 

 ments of a truly mechanical character : the eye, in a great 

 part of its functioning, is nothing but a camera obscura, and 

 the skeleton obeys the laws of inorganic statics. Every part 

 of these organic systems has been placed by entelechy 

 where it must be placed to act well in the service of the 

 whole, but the part itself acts like a part of a machine. 



So we see finally that the different forms of harmony in 

 the origin and function of parts that are not immediately 



