582 DOLBEAR. [Vot. II. 
as was pointed out a little way back, it follows that a greater 
degree of stability would be looked for in the materials upon 
the outside than upon the inside; and hence the cellular struc- 
ture itself is a result of the mechanical relations between the 
molecules and their field. 
The field of a given cell must depend upon the elements of 
its composition, their number and arrangement; and for any 
one of visible magnitude must be so complex that, at any rate, 
now it would be quite a hopeless task to attempt to describe it, 
yet there does not appear to be a good reason for not having a 
well-grounded conviction that in fact there must be such a field, 
and some sort of a mental picture of what it must be like. 
As its source is purely mechanical, its properties must also 
be purely mechanical, the form assumed and the order exhibited 
being but an extension to complex molecules of the form and 
order displayed among relatively simpler bodies called crystals. 
Now, vital force as an entity has been quite given up by all, 
except a few of the old school of biologists who have not yet, and 
probably never will learn that such a view is incompatible with 
almost everything we do know, as science, about the matter. 
The foregoing presentation shows that such an assumption is 
an unnecessary one, as fundamental mechanics will explain the 
phenomena without its aid. Its bearings upon some of the 
problems of biology must be apparent, as a prime factor in 
evolution, in explaining heredity, and in giving a very distinct 
answer to the question as to the cause of variation; for an extra 
molecule, even accidentally imbedded in a mass of other mole- 
cules, must change the configuration of the field, and hence the 
direction of growth. One does not need to go further than the 
formation of a cell that can organize a similar one, animal or 
vegetable, for the purposes of this article; but the next ques- 
tion to be asked by every one interested in the problems of life 
is, What is to be said of mind, consciousness? Has that, too, 
a mechanical antecedent, a mechanical equivalent, and does it 
depend solely upon mechanical conditions? Not long ago it was 
the custom to speak of Azgher and lower forces. These were 
mechanical forces on the lowest plane, then chemical, then vital 
and mental forces highest of all. Now two of these, the chemi- 
cal and vital, have absolutely been absorbed into the mechanical 
one. In fact, it now seems absurd to speak of higher and lower 
