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36 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



selective properties of various kinds, and in this way certain chem- 

 ical and physical reactions are facilitated at these surfaces, which 

 make them useful in the industries as well as in the processes of 

 organic life. In fact, some reactions in the colloid state approxi- 

 mate strangely to the biological type. 



From the above analysis of the structural energetic constitution 

 of matter certain conclusions can be drawn which very much nar- 

 row the gulf between matter and life. 



In the first place, the old view of matter as inert and passive dis- 

 appears completely. Matter like life is intensely active, indeed is 

 Action in the technical physical sense; the difference is not be- 

 tween deadness and activity, but between two different kinds of 

 activity. Through their common activities the fields of matter and 

 life thus overlap and intermingle, and absolute separation dis- 

 appears. 



In the second place, Radioactivity in matter plays a somewhat 

 analogous role to Organic Descent in life. Both render fluid the 

 old fixed entities and forms; although the difference between them 

 must not be minimised. Especially must it be recognised that 

 Radioactivity is regressive, while Organic Descent is progressive. 

 But this may be due to the extreme age of matter as compared 

 with the youth of life in the history of the earth. 



In the third place, the Periodic Table of Chemistry has a dis- 

 tinct resemblance to the Systems of Botany and Zoology; the con- 

 cepts of families, genera and species could be applied to both. 

 This shows that the characters of activity, plasticity and prob- 

 ably of development and genetic relationships apply to both the 

 organic and inorganic domains. 



In the fourth place, the structural character of matter indicates 

 that it is also creative, not of its own stuff, but of the forms, ar- 

 rangements and patterns which constitute all its value in the phys- 

 ical sphere. Just as life and mind are creative of values through 

 the selective combinations and forms which they bring about, so 

 matter also, instead of being dispersive, diffusive and structureless, 

 effects through its inner activities and forces structural groupings 

 and combinations which are valuable, not merely to humans, but in 

 the order of the universe. But for its dynamic structural creative 

 character matter could not have been the mother of the universe. 



In the fifth place, matter in its colloid state in protoplasm dis- 

 closes properties and manufactures substances, such as chlorophyll 

 and haemoglobin, which are necessary for the functions of life, and 

 which go far toward bridging the great gap between the two. In 

 its colloid state we thus see matter reaching up to the very 

 threshold of life. A great leap may have taken place across what 

 remained as a gap. A great "mutation" may have occurred. But 

 as life probably began on a much lower level than the lowest 



