LIFE AS MECHANISM 



saic is something superadded to organization, not it- 

 self the foundation of organization. . . . Compara- 

 tive embryology reminds us at every turn that the or- 

 ganism dominates cell formation, using for the same 

 purpose one, several, or many cells, massing its ma- 

 terial and directing its movements, and shaping its 

 organs, as if cells did not exist, or as if they existed 

 only in complete subordination to its will, if I may 

 so speak."'^ These passages strike one as the clear ex- 

 pression of a man who sees that an unknown cause 

 cannot be explained by an hypothesis merely because 

 we do not desire to consider it as beyond our grasp, 

 and that we do not aid matters by wrapping up our 

 vagueness of ideas in technical words and abstruse 

 phrases which seem to mean what we cannot express. 

 Such simplicity of thought is rare amongst men of 

 science who are only too prone to deceive themselves 

 by their mere observation and by their technical lan- 

 guage. To show that it is no exaggeration to say that 

 while biologists may condemn the cell-theory, yet 

 they will always return to it as an explanation of 

 those things which we do not and cannot understand, 

 I may quote from Professor E. B. Wilson, and no one 

 will question his authority on the cell. He says: "The 

 only unity is that of the entire organism, and as long 

 as its cells remain in continuity they are to be re- 

 garded not as morphological individuals, but as spe- 

 cialized centres of action into which the living body 



'^'^ Ibid., vol. I, pp. 159-60. 



C 2873 



