150 Life as a Physical Phenomenon. 



of words which seem to imply so much that is unknown 

 and so little that is known, have substituted the word 

 organization as the dividing characteristic between the 



first and the other two classes. Possibly this might con- 

 vey a more definite idea if it could be assumed that there 

 ie no such thing ae organization in minerals. 



As I believe that it can be shown that the process of 

 arranging the molecules of a crystal is as truly a process of 

 organization as the arrangement of the molecules of a cell, 

 and inasmuch as the terms organization f formative process 

 should indicate generally and not specially, the process by 

 which beings are formed, it would seem that there is little 

 of definite meaning to the terms as used, and that so far 

 as any idea is conveyed it is essentially erroneous. 



If it is true that crystallization is really organization, it 

 follows that we have two forms or varieties to study, the 

 one working silentl}' among minerals, the other building 

 up the wonderful structures which we call living bein 

 Except in this cell form of organization there is no anima- 

 tion. Without this peculiar process, the earth would be a 

 cheerless desert. There would be no longer green hillsides 

 with flocks and herds; forests and groves, fields of waving 

 grain and gardens of flowers would disappear; the singing 

 of birds and the voices of childhood and youth would be 

 hushed, and the gloomy earth would become a realm of 

 desolation and death. 



What is this process that builds the tree and paints the 

 flower: that tonus the beast that grazes upon the hillsides, 

 and the bird that wings its way through the air; that gives 

 the brilliancy to the eye and the bloom to the cheek ? 



It is impossible to begin the study of the laws which 

 divide and unite the three great kingdoms in beings of 

 complex nature; for so curiously and so mysteriously are 

 the forces brought to bear, that we are confounded and 



