THEORY OF THE CELLS. 187 



goes on in the latter quite blindly. A certain impression is 

 followed of necessity by a certain change of quality and quantity, 

 without regard to any purpose. In this view, however, the 

 fundamental power of the organism (or the soul, in the sense 

 employed by Stahl) would, inasmuch as it works with a definite 

 individual purpose, be much more nearly allied to the im- 

 material principle, endued with consciousness which we must 

 admit operates in man. 



The other view is, that the fundamental powers of organized 

 bodies agree essentially with those of inorganic nature, that 

 they work altogether blindly according to laws of necessity and 

 irrespective of any purpose, that they are powers which are as 

 much established with the existence of matter as the phy- 

 sical powers are. It might be assumed that the pow r ers which 

 form organized bodies do not appear at all in inorganic nature, 

 because this or that particular combination of molecules, by 

 which the powers are elicited, does not occur in inorganic 

 nature, and yet they might not be essentially distinct from 

 physical and chemical powers. It cannot, indeed, be denied 

 that adaptation to a particular purpose, in some individuals 

 even in a high degree, is characteristic of every organism ; 

 but, according to this view, the source of this adaptation does 

 not depend upon each organism being developed by the opera- 

 tion of its own power in obedience to that purpose, but it 

 originates as in inorganic nature, in the creation of the matter 

 with its blind powers by a rational Being. AYe know, for 

 instance, the powers which operate in our planetary system. 

 They operate, like all physical powers, in accordance with 

 blind laws of necessity, and yet is the planetary system re- 

 markable for its adaptation to a purpose. The ground of 

 this adaptation does not lie in the powers, but in Him, who has 

 so constituted matter with its powers, that in blindly obeying its 

 laws it produces a whole suited to fulfil an intended purpose. 

 We may even assume that the planetary system has an indivi- 

 dual adaptation to a purpose. Some external influence, such ;i^ 

 a comet, may occasion disturbances of motion, without thereby 

 bringing the whole into collision ; derangements may occur on 

 single planets, such as a high tide, &c., which are yet balanced 

 entirely by physical laws. As respects their adaptation to a 

 purpose, organized bodies differ from these in degree only; 



