OBJECT AND LIVING ORGANISM 121 



always select as the starting-point a human being with his 

 impulse-sequences. 



On the other hand, it is quite reasonable to inquire whether 

 we cannot resolve a living organism into a number of inde- 

 pendent functions, which find their expression in the frame- 

 work of the animal. 



It has been shown that this method of analysis of an 

 organism offers very considerable advantages. Indeed, com- 

 parative physiology maintains that we should consider every 

 animal as a bundle of reflexes, work out each single reflex- 

 arc thoroughly, and then study their common central con- 

 nection. Only by this method can we succeed in demon- 

 strating completely the mechanical properties undoubtedly 

 present in the organism ; and this exceedingly important 

 science we call physiology. 



But every biologist must see that this does not complete 

 the work of investigation, for a bundle of reflexes is not an 

 animal, even if we bring into relation with its structure all • 

 the chemical actions of the body, organised, as they are, in 

 full conformity with plan. 



In addition to mechanical, a living being also possesses ^ 

 super-mechanical capacities, giving it a character which would 

 still be quite unlike that of a machine, even if the parts 

 of the machine were constructed with the same perfection as 

 are organs, and even if their counter-actions were real actions, 

 i.e. were not referable to the action of a human being. 



The super-mechanical powers of all organisms consist in 

 this, that they include the activities exercised on machines by 

 human beings. They make the machine of their own bodies 

 themselves, they run it themselves, and they undertake all 

 its repairs. 



All three of these super-mechanical powers — the con- 

 struction, the running of the machine, and its repair — appear 

 to be bound up with the existence of protoplasm, which 



