Biological Papers. 231 



Unfortunately, however, for the satisfaction of those mathe- 

 matically inclined and the peace of mind of the biologist, life mani- 

 fests in all its activities a conscious power which is a variable, a 

 power that observes no physical law except when it needs to do so 

 for its own highest good. Because life does not conform to such 

 invariable laws as energy and matter, many physicists and mathe- 

 matical biologists deny the existence of any such entity as life, and 

 list it as a quality or property of matter, or as a form of energy not 

 yet studied sufficiently to determine its laws. 



Those who are biologists in spirit as well as in name, on the 

 other hand, declare that life is as truly an entity as are energy and 

 matter, and is just as necessary to any system of biology as are en- 

 ergy and matter to physics and chemistry. They declare, further, 

 that evolution would be impossible did not life exist and possess 

 conscious powers; for life must pioneer its own way in its earth 

 environment, and, when best ways are discovered, it must fix its 

 tendencies accordingly, first as individual habits, and second, after 

 long trial by many generations of descendants, fully establish them 

 as race habits, or instincts and reflexes, and transmit them by he- 

 redity. 



This theory of evolution, with life as the central agent, as pre- 

 sented in this paper, merely assigns life to its natural place in the 

 plant and animal kingdoms. Instead of ascribing to matter certain 

 properties not usually considered as belonging to this substance, 

 or giving to energy autocratic command in the cosmos, it places 

 life at the head of these entities and gives it the power to manage 

 matter through energy when these three are associated in plants and 

 animals. 



Why life was placed on earth to develop its powers; why it did 

 not in the beginning inherit all the powers of Jehovah, are things 

 the future alone can reveal to us; but of this we maybe certain: 

 continued and successful development is one of the life possibilities 

 to him who labors for it and consciously chooses that which is best 

 for his neighbor as well as for himself. 



