THE FOUR COMPLEXES OF ENERGY 19 



(2) With life something new appears in the universe, 

 namely, a union of the internal and external adjustment of 

 energy which we appropriately call an Organism. In the course 

 of the evolution of life every law and property in the physico- 

 chemical world is turned to advantage; every chemical ele- 

 ment is assembled in which inorganic properties may serve 

 organic functions. There is an immediate or gradual separa- 

 tion of the organism into two complexes of energy, namely, 

 first, the energy complex of the organism, which is perishable 

 with the term of the life of the individual, and second, the germ 

 or heredity substance, which is perpetual. 



(3) The idea that the germ is an energy complex is an as 

 yet unproved hypothesis; it has not been demonstrated. The 

 Heredity-germ in some respects bears a likeness to latent or 

 potential interacting energy, while in other respects it is en- 

 tirely unique. The supposed germ energy is not only cumula- 

 tive but is in a sense imperishable, self-perpetuating, and con- 

 tinuous during the whole period of the evolution of life upon 

 the earth, a conception which we owe chiefly to the law of the 

 continuity of the germ-plasm formulated by Weismann. Some 

 of the observed phenomena of the germ in Heredity are chiefly 

 analogous to those of interaction in the Organism, namely, 

 directive of a series of actions and reactions, but in general we 

 know no complete physical or inorganic analogy to the phe- 

 nomena of heredity; they are unique in nature. 



(4) With the multiplication and diversification of individual 

 organisms there enters a new factor in the environment, namely, 

 the energy complex of the Life Environment. 



Thus there are combined certainly three, and possibly four, 

 complexes of energy, of which each has its own actions, reac- 

 tions, and interactions. The evolution of life proceeds by sus- 



