GENERAL 5 



explain the specific peculiarities of the organism by reference to its 

 structure and chemical composition. The properties of any chemical 

 combination are necessarily dependent upon the manner in which the 

 individual atoms are linked together, but, even if the latter were known, 

 the ablest chemist would be unable with certainty to prognosticate, although 

 he might make a guess at, the properties of a new compound. The mind 

 of man is as incapable of understanding the ultimate cause of a pheno- 

 menon, as it is of grasping the meaning of infinity; so that Newton was 

 fully justified in saying that the seeker after ultimate causes shows thereby 

 that he is not a truly scientific worker. 



Everything that goes on in a plant, every movement or alteration of 

 any kind, whether chemical or physical, involves a change of energy just 

 as it does in inorganic matter ; either potential energy being converted into 

 kinetic, or kinetic energy into potential. At the same time, the nature of 

 the causal relationship is such, that every vital process in the organism 

 follows as a necessary consequence of its specific disposition and character. 

 Just as an artistic pattern is woven in a fabric by progressively changing 

 certain mechanical arrangements of a weaving machine, so also, in the 

 vital activity of the organism, every change is a sure sign of an alteration 

 in the microcosmic constellations which rule and govern it, independently 

 of whether the change is due to internal causes, or to the operation of 

 external stimuli. If in any given plant the ultimate structure and the 

 sources of its energy, together with all its properties and characteristics, 

 were as well known as those of a weaving machine or a musical box, 

 then, and then only, should we be able to understand all the phenomena 

 of life as being the natural consequences of given conditions, just as we 

 do in the case of a machine. 



For the present, however, we must be content, if we can refer 

 particular functions of the entire organic mechanism with sufficient accuracy 

 to the agencies which initiate or influence them ; nor can there be any 

 doubt that precisely the same forces and laws are in operation in the 

 veiled and hidden vital mechanism, as in the rest of nature. Just as we 

 see how a clever mechanic can make the most various works of art with 

 the same tools, so also, when we bear in mind the countless combinations 

 into which the commonest natural means and forces may enter, it be- 

 comes comprehensible how the wonderful structure and mechanism of the 

 living organism can be attained ; indeed, we may even obtain some idea 

 as to how it must have originated. A consideration of the final product 

 alone will never enable us to determine how various and complicated the 

 operations which have given rise to a particular result may be. nor whether 

 they take place simultaneously, or successively. 



There is no reason for regarding life as the product of an extraordinary 

 and mystical natural force ; it is to be treated simply as a special and 



