MECHANISM AND VITALISM 413 



tion where little was left to his own choice. The mechanists have 

 similarly deprived him of freedom by binding him down to the 

 physics and chemistry of his past. Driesch forms a compromise 

 between these two methods of determinism. Organisms are guided 

 in their development by forces e:rira-physicochemical but at the 

 same time residing within the organism. 



Bergson has been impressed by the vast creative power of na- 

 ture which bursts out into all manner of living things. In this 

 creative power he sees an elan vital or living impulse which cannot 

 be expressed in physicochemical terms. These ideas of Bergson 

 and Driesch may appeal to us or not depending upon our tempera- 

 ments. They are more likely to appeal to the emotional side of 

 man than to his reason, and they find their best expression in the 

 aspirations of the race as stated in poetry (which may possibly be 

 nearer the truth than the products of reason) . 



In addition to these outstanding figures, there are many others 

 who call themselves neo-vitalists. They do not attempt to sep- 

 arate the organic from the inorganic world on any definite set of 

 characters, but they feel that life phenomena are unique because 

 they deal with a unique material, — protoplasm. Just as the 

 phenomena and characteristics of water are different from those 

 of the hydrogen and oxygen that compose it, so protoplasm has 

 unique properties because it is a unique substance. This concep- 

 tion, which is related to the doctrines known as holism and emer- 

 gent evolution, seems to satisfy many people, but it really amounts 

 to an admission that the problem is incapable of a solution. It 

 is another way of saying that "Life is what it is, and it, therefore, 

 cannot be otherwise"; but this sort of reasoning seems to be more 

 satisfying to philosophers than to biologists. 



One may take various inorganic compounds and reproduce 

 with them certain features of organic activity one at a time; but 

 the characteristic of protoplasm is that it can do all of these 

 things, — grow, reproduce, respond to stimuli, etc. — at once! Proto- 

 plasm is a peculiar substance and until it has been made in vitro, its 

 secrets have not been yielded up to the inquiring laboratory worker. 

 Furthermore, knowing the physics and chemistry of an apparatus 

 does not explain it. One may know all the laws of the gas engine,— 

 the question of ignition, feed, carburetion, etc. — but is the en- 

 gine then explained? Also it is quite possible for a system to 

 appear mechanical and still not be. If an observer from another 



