41 6 The Inward Urge to Change 



was determined, scientists proceeded to reproduce it syn- 

 thetically. Hundreds of compounds were produced having 

 the same composition — but not the same constitution. A 

 slight difference in the arrangement of the same atoms meant 

 an important difference in the behavior of the compound. 

 In advance of finding out neither Crookes nor Rontgen 

 could tell that *' X-rays " would emerge from the electrified 

 vacuum tube: there were phenomena absolutely new and 

 unpredictable, emergents in distinction from resultants. 



The aggregation of units of a given order brings about 

 the emergence of something new; and this something new 

 is of a different order. Thus molecules are the outcome 

 of the chemical combination of atoms; there emerges in 

 the process a new set of qualities, and the product is of a 

 different order from that of the constituents. A collection 

 of say four to five points forms a pattern that is different 

 from any to be found in the single points themselves; and 

 this pattern besides being something ** new " is also of a 

 different order. A given mixture of oxygen and coal dust 

 is explosive, but it is futile to search for the " explosiveness " 

 in either member of the combination — it is something new 

 and emerges from the interrelations of the two. The wires 

 and iron parts that are assembled into an electrical generator 

 constitute a new whole which has properties that transcend 

 the sum of what the separate elements manifest. 



Orders of Reality and of Law 



The scientist may confine himself to studying what 

 happens in a given order of aggregates or bodies and he may 

 succeed in discovering " laws " that obtain uniformly for 

 such beings. He may therefore interpret processes and 

 events on a given level, without regard to what happens else- 

 where. The economist, for example, does not need to take 

 into account the laws of celestial mechanics, or of hydro- 

 dynamics. Yet he may have to take into account laws of 

 psychology, that is, the uniformities observed among bodies 



