4IO The Inward Urge to Change 



the whole history of the universe, non-Hving matter must 

 have preceded Hving matter, and this in turn must somehow 

 have " evolved " out of the former. 



St. Augustine, knowing nothing of chemistry or biology, 

 had no difficulty in supposing that the act of creation so 

 constituted matter that in good time the living would 

 emerge out of the non-living. Cuvier, having no difficulty 

 about accepting the continuous or spasmodic interference of 

 the deity in the affairs of this world, could comfortably con- 

 template not only a creation of living from non-living, but 

 a whole succession of such creations. The chemist, how- 

 ever, or the physiologist, knowing what he does, can only 

 speculate on the many kinds of matter that are intermediate 

 between the unquestionably inorganic, and the unquestion- 

 ably living. With the assumption of continuity which con- 

 stantly influences his mental processes, the transition from 

 the non-living to the living is to him unthinkable — and he is 

 not ready to concede a miracle, or a special intervention of a 

 creative act until he has exhausted every possibility of explan- 

 ation by rational and scientific (that is, mechanistic) means. 



Mechanism and Fur pose 



It is for these reasons that most scientific students of 

 biology and of evolution have avoided all forms of " vital- 

 ism " as an aid to understanding. It is not that a scientist has 

 to be a " materialist." Or that one who uses the mechanistic 

 method of research and interpretation can say with any as- 

 surance that a " vital principle " or a " guiding purpose " 

 does not operate in the world. It is only that the assumption 

 of purposes and vitalisms obstructs further research and con- 

 fuses understanding. The scientist, as such, has to take the 

 facts of the world as he finds them, and he has to manage 

 them as best he can. Experience has taught him that he 

 manages most effectively when he follows the method of 

 " mechanics " rather than when he follows the method of 

 " purpose." 



