The Organism and its Protoplasm 141 



equally vast series of phenomena presented by natural bod- 

 ies and substances which do not involve such combinations 

 and transformations and which are the basis of the great 

 science of modern physics, will also probably be accepted 

 without cavil. But tlie point to be specially noticed is that 

 since physics as tlius indicated is primarily concerned with 

 those attributes of bodies and substances which are common 

 to very great numbers of them, and are not only common to 

 them but while rendering the bodies subject to great change, 

 do not make them subject to complete transformation, the 

 discrete, the individuated bodies fall much into the back- 

 ground. 



Physics is preeminently from its vei'y nature an individ- 

 ual-ignoring science. Concentrated as its attention is, on 

 the force of gravitation for example, or on the behavior of 

 light, and finding these manifested almost everywhere re- 

 gardless of how many kinds of bodies are concerned, it is 

 not surprising that the habit should be formed by persons 

 who devote themselves to studying these phenomena, of neg- 

 lecting almost entirely the bodies themselves which have 

 weight and emit and receive light. Then when this habitual 

 tendency to neglect the bodies finds encouragement by well- 

 reasoned hypotheses that the bodies are actually less im- 

 portant and real than certain essences or entities "behind" 

 them, the ignoring of the bodies passes easily from the realm 

 of habit to that of dogma, and such strange conceptions of 

 the "Province of Physics" as the following arise: "If further 

 we give the name thing to that with the objective existence 

 of which we are acquainted by our senses, then it follows 

 that in the physical universe there are only two classes of 

 things; to these the names Matter and Energy are given." ^^ 

 That protoplasm, of just such a conceptual character as 

 we are pointing out in this chapter does not exist, would 

 obviously be acceptable to a physics holding such an unob- 

 jectificd, denatured conception of nature as that just 



