An Introduction to a Biology 



ago, professes to have explained many vital pheno- 

 mena in terms of matter — that is to say, in terms 

 of physics, chemistry and mechanics — and it holds 

 out to those who wish to embrace it the hope that 

 in the course of time most, if not all, of the mani- 

 festations of life will be interpreted in terms of 

 matter. 



It is evident that in this philosophy of life there 

 is no place for the soul. Modern Biology has in this 

 respect gone one better than Descartes. It denies 

 a soul not only to animals other than man, but to 

 man himself. The biologist throws a sop to those 

 who cling to the belief that man has a soul. " We 

 have now," he says, " a scientific conception of that 

 to which the term ' soul ' used to be applied. If 

 you wish to continue the use of the word ' soul,' you 

 must not mean any more by it than the sum-total 

 of the activities which are the result of tlie structure 

 of that complex mechanism, the human body." 



According to the scientific view, it will be seen, 

 the soul may be used as an aggregate term for the 

 activities of the various parts of the body, especially 

 the brain. The structure of the matter of which 

 the body is made and the chemical interaction of 

 its gases and juices are the cause of these activities. 

 Matter is the master — ^the sole determiniog cause ; 

 the soul is only permitted to exist on sufferance, 

 and is reduced to the level of a mere symptom. 



But the mechanistic explanation of the activities 

 of the organism will be seen on careful inspection 

 to be a very shallow explanation. Mechanism is 

 certainly the proximate cause of certain simple forms 

 of vital activity, just as the structure and mutual 



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