An Introduction to a Biology 



is not the aggregate symptom of the structure of 

 the parts of the body, what is it ? The alternative 

 view is that the form of the body is the effect of 

 the soul ; that matter is subservient to spirit ; that 

 structure is the result of activity, and not activity 

 the result of structure. Those who hold this alter- 

 native view do not think that the mechanistic ex- 

 planation is false ; they believe that it gives a very 

 true picture of the proximate causes of the mechanical 

 devices made use of by life. They do not deny that 

 a great number of vital processes can be explained 

 in terms of physics, mechanics and chemistry ; 

 life, they admit, uses matter to achieve its ends ; 

 but they believe that there is behind these material 

 phenomena which we are beginning to understand, 

 something which is the cause of these phenomena, 

 and which we do not yet even dimly understand. 



This, then, is the problem of life as it presents 

 itself when we address ourselves to the theory of 

 the organism. Is the soul a mere aggregate symptom 

 of a mechanism — the body ? Or is the body not 

 rather the instrument of the soul ? 



[The MS. breaks off at this point.] 



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