Mechanism and Origins 409 



case we are restating what happens in the terms of the whole 

 body and its needs. In the second case we are restating 

 what happens in terms of specific details whose relation to 

 one another we can understand as inechanhTn. It goes with- 

 out saying that every event can be described and explained 

 in these two ways — and that one may be as " true " as the 

 other, provided we stick to the facts. 



Movements of levers and pistons, of wheels and screws, 

 of valves and springs, are " explained " in thoroughly mech- 

 anistic terms. It is a rare individual who seeks to go be- 

 hind the facts to find out what makes things behave as 

 they do. The chemist and the student of the atom and the 

 molecule do indeed go somewhat farther behind the scenes 

 than does the engineer, but these also use the methods of 

 mechanics. They think in terms of particles and forces, of 

 measurable movements, of the transfer and transformation 

 of energy. The success of these scientific pursuits has so 

 impressed the world for over a hundred years, that their 

 methods have naturally been imitated by those concerned 

 with other problems. The biologists, especially, for a hun- 

 dred years, have attempted to capture the virtues of mecha- 

 nistic science. In these attempts they have not only produced 

 useful results in the way of collecting and analyzing funda- 

 mental facts about living matter and living organisms, but 

 they have cleared away a great deal of mental rubbish that 

 stood in the way of clear thinking. 



Among the consequences of this adventure, however, 

 has been the setting up of rathei* arbitrary standards of what 

 constitutes scientific thinking and the rather arbitrary in- 

 sistence upon one kind of " interpretation " to the exclusion 

 of the others. The result has been that certain scientists have 

 overreached themselves and have come to an impassable bar- 

 rier to further investigation. This is illustrated by such 

 problems as that of the origin of life, of the relation of life 

 and mind. On experimental grounds we have today no 

 knowledge of life except such as is derived from preexisting 

 life. Yet on the theory of evolution, which tries to encompass 



