LIFE AS MECHANISM 



water; cells when added together make such different 

 things as hearts, brains, and muscles. A molecule of 

 water can be, and is, endowed with all the properties 

 of a gallon of water except mere size and mass. A 

 germ cell of a man has not the properties of a man. 

 The physicist who examines a tiny crystal of ice the 

 size of an ovum can detail to you all the properties 

 of a pound of ice or else physics would be futile as a 

 science; the biologist studies the cell and says, add 

 cells together and all the properties change. 



It seems almost self-evident that, if the biologist is 

 to derive useful conclusions, he must start from the 

 assumption that the cell is materially simple and its 

 substance is governed by the forces and energies 

 known to physics. Many properties of the adult body 

 can be learned from such a study of the cell. But the 

 growth of the cell and its life functions are due to 

 some predisposing cause which is not physical force 

 and energy, because it displays none of the laws of 

 such force and energ}' . In our total ignorance of this 

 cause we may just as well name it hyperphysical, 

 psychic, or vital energy. This cause calls into action 

 and controls the physical forces which select and ar- 

 range the material elements of the body to produce 

 growth. 



There are some signs, as I have said, that the at- 

 tempt to explain our life with its conscious thoughts 

 and emotions as a form of materialism is rapidly 

 losing ground. The blighting effect of this doctrine 



C 293 3 



