332 THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY 



organism that we are considering, and this is a pure 

 conception, for our typical organism does not occur in 

 nature. The organisms that are accessible to our 

 observation are constellations of physico-chemical parts, 

 but these constellations tend continually to deviate 

 from the conceptual arrangement. Progressive varia- 

 tion from the type is something that distinguishes the 

 organic constellation from the inorganic one. 



The organism is an entity in which energy-trans- 

 formations of a particular nature are effected. These 

 transformations raise energy from a state of low, to a state 

 of high potential. 



This is the general tendency of terrestrial life, and 

 it is expressed most fully in the metabolism of the green 

 plant. The energy-transformations that are effected 

 here are those in which the kinetic energy of radiation 

 is employed to build up chemical compounds of high 

 potential, from inorganic substances incapable in them- 

 selves of undergoing further transformations. The 

 general tendency of all inorganic transformations is 

 towards inertia. In them energy is not destroyed, but 

 it is dissipated : it becomes uniformly distributed 

 throughout material bodies as the un-co-ordinated 

 motions of the molecules of which those bodies are 

 composed, and it ceases to be available for further 

 transformations. The green plant reverses this trans- 

 formation, and accumulates energy in the form of 

 chemical compounds of high potential. Inorganic 

 processes are those in which available energy becomes 

 unavailable, and this unavailable energy can only 

 become available again if a compensatory energy- 

 transformation is effected. Life is that which effects 

 these compensatory energy-transformations. 



The organism is a constellation capable of indefinite 

 growth by dissociation. 



