THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE, 77 



But Schelling, in reality, in spite of the actual wording 

 of his definition \ looked upon the words c life ' and 

 c quality ' as conveying to the mind almost identically 

 the same ideas. All things, therefore, possessing 

 qualities that is everything in the universe has a 

 Life of its own 2 , varying though it may in rank and 

 supremacy, in the case of things ordinarily spoken of as 

 non-Jiving or living respectively^. And this brings us 

 to what we consider to be the true conception of Life 

 to the meaning which ought to be attached to the 

 word. All bodies in Nature have properties or quali- 

 ties they are in fact known to us only as aggregates 

 of such and such properties. Bodies are, however, 

 divided into two great classes- -the living and the 

 not -living according as they do or do not possess 

 certain qualities or properties. These differentiating 

 qualities are those which are generalized and included 



1 However unsatisfactory Schelling's formula may be as a definition 

 of Life, we cannot fail to recognize that it is an expression of one of the 

 most notable tendencies of life in all its higher manifestations. 



2 Burdach (' Traite de Physiologic,' Trad, par Jourdan, 1837, t. iv. 

 p. 149) says, ' Effectivement nous rencontrons des traces de vie dans 

 toute existence quelconque.' 



Thus are we again brought face to face with the old philosophic 

 conception that there exists a ' soul ' in all things, or, as Wordsworth 

 tells us, an all-pervading Power : 



' Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 

 And the round ocean and the living air, 

 And the blue sky, and in the mind of man : 

 A motion and a spirit that impels 

 All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 

 And rolls through all things.' 



