THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



reactions of force are equal and simultaneous, by say- 

 ing that they "are chiefly simultaneous" ; then he na- 

 ively adds to the universe a new force which he calls 

 "interaction," and illustrates this pretty fiction of his 

 imagination by the fact that when "one pulls on the 

 reins, the horse feels it a little later than the moment 

 at which the reins are pulled." The first thing which 

 the materialistic monists should do is to learn physics, 

 and next find some quantitative relations between 

 physical and biological phenomena. 



But for an "explanation" of life in terms of phys- 

 ics I think nothing could exceed the attempt of Pro- 

 fessor W. P. Montague.^^ One feels that he must be 

 concealing somewhere a colossal joke and yet he gives 

 his opinions with the solemnity of a profound dis- 

 covery. He assures us that if we conceive of the germ 

 of life as a hierarchical system of super-forces it will 

 be possible to explain heredity and life in terms of 

 mechanistic categories. He gives us no idea what su- 

 per-forces are or how we are to recognize them. But 

 they do the most extraordinary things, such as giving 

 many degrees of rest or modes of existence on the 

 other side of mere rest. Somehow, they produce a 

 negative velocity which is less than rest and they give 



1'' W. p. Montague, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 

 XXI, 1921, pp. 13-50. My brother, Mr. P. E More, has discussed 

 this same article from the stand-point of its bearing on religion in 

 a recent volume. For the benefit of mathematicians, I must add that 

 Mr. Montague does as extraordinary things with the laws of mathe- 

 matics as with those of physics. For example, he integrates a func- 

 tion which contains no infinitesimal quantity. 



C 270 3 



