246 CLASSICS OF MODERN SCIENCE 

 without regard to any purpose. In this view, however, the funda- 

 mental power of the organism (or the soul, in the sense employed by 

 Stahl) would, inasmuch as it works with a definite individual pur- 

 pose, be much more nearly allied to the immaterial principle, endued 

 with consciousness which we must admit operates in man. 



The other view is, that the fundamental powers of organized bodies 

 agree essentially with those of inorganic nature, that they work alto- 

 gether blindly according to laws of necessity and irrespective of any 

 purpose, that they are powers which are as much established with the 

 existence of matter as the physical powers are. It might be assumed 

 that the powers which form organized bodies do not appear at all 

 in inorganic nature, because this or that particular combination of 

 molecules, by which the powers are elicited, does not occur in in- 

 organic nature, and yet they might not be essentially distinct from 

 physical and chemical powers. It cannot, indeed, be denied that 

 adaptation to a particular purpose, in some individuals even in a 

 high degree, is characteristic of every organism; but, according to 

 this view, the source of this adaptation does not depend upon each 

 organism being developed by the operation of its own power in obe- 

 dience to that purpose, but it originates as in inorganic nature, in the 

 creation of the matter with its blind powers by a rational Being. We 

 know, for instance, the powers which operate in our planetary system. 

 They operate, like all physical powers, in accordance with blind laws 

 of necessity, and yet is the planetary system remarkable for its adapta- 

 tion to a purpose. The ground of this adaptation does not lie in 

 the powers, but in Him, who has so constituted matter with its powers, 

 that in blindly obeying its laws it produces a whole suited to fulfil an 

 intended purpose. We may even assume that the planetary system 

 has an individual adaptation to a purpose. Some external influence, 

 such as a comet, may occasion disturbances of motion, without there- 

 by bringing the whole into collision ; derangements may occur on 

 single planets, such as a high tide, &c., which are yet balanced entirely 

 by physical laws. As respects their adaptation to a purpose, organ- 

 ized bodies differ from these in degree only ; and by this second view 

 we are just as little compelled to conclude that the fundamental powers 

 of organization operate according to laws of adaptation to a purpose, 

 as we are in inorganic nature. 



The first view of the fundamental powers of organized bodies may 



