CoGNiTic State of Energy 141 



But such stereo-chemical fitting or combination would be 

 entirely impossible, were it not that a subtle and perfect ex- 

 hibition of stereoenergesis is expended along definite lines, so 

 as to place molecule beside molecule as accurately as are the 

 bricks fitted by a bricklayer's skill (wliich is itself a highly 

 complex stored energy that becomes kinetic in the process), 

 in the rearing of a house. 



If it can be demonstrated approximately that electric, chemic, 

 or even biotic energy can link together molecules of so complex 

 a nature in so exact and highly complex a manner, there is no 

 need for a higher energy. The failure hitherto to do this 

 causes us to accept the cognitic type of energy as a necessity 

 of the case. 



In the paper on plant hybrids already quoted the writer 

 has shown that such a complex and far-reaching feature as 

 the time of blooming of plant hybrids is in many cases an exact, 

 or nearly exact, mean between that of the parents. Now we 

 have ample phytophenologic statistics to prove that time of 

 blooming depends annually on many factors, cliief of these 

 being light and heat units. But T\inter freezing, direction of 

 w^nds, amount of rainfall, and other factors seem to combine 

 in determining the recurrence of this event. To all of these 

 then we prove that the plant responds accurately, when we 

 note that the hybrid flowers unfold at a time that is inter- 

 mediate between those of the parents. And this throughout 

 is not a mere question of chemical combination. It is through- 

 out a question in which we deal with definite external stimuli 

 that affect the plant, and to which it responds by exhibition 

 of lines of energy-expenditure that cause placing of molecules 

 at an exact periodic ratio, and in exact growth-position, so 

 as to culminate in an exact time of unfolding of each flower. 



We might equally refer to the comparative hardihood of 

 hybrids as elucidated by the writer, and since extended by 

 Webber and others. But, without lingering over such, the 

 remarkable cases of unisexual and bisexual hybridity described 

 and figured by the writer form a cogent proof of the need for 

 some labile but tenacious and high work-transforming energy 



