i ORGANIZED BODIES 13 



in order to make that flow crystallize into definite forms 

 and thus to create all the other bodies in short, the 

 living body is^this a_body as others are ? 



Doubtless it, also, consists in a portion of extension 

 bound up with the rest of extension, an intimate part of 

 the Whole, subject to the same physical and chemical 

 laws that govern any and every portion of matter. But, 

 while the subdivision of matter into separate bodies is 

 relative to our perception, while the building up of 

 closed-off systems of material points is relative to our 

 science, the living body has been separated and closed 

 off by Nature herself. It is composed of unlike parts 

 that complete each other. It performs diverse functions 

 that involve each other. It is an individual, and of no 

 other object, not even of the crystal, can this be said, 

 for a crystal has neither difference of parts nor diversity 

 of functions. No doubt, it is hard to decide, even in 

 the organized world, what is individual and what is not. 

 The difficulty is great, even in the animal kingdom ; 

 with plants it is almost insurmountable. This difficulty 

 is, moreover, due to profound causes, on which we shall 

 dwell later. We shall see that individuality admits of 

 any number of degrees, and that it is not fully realized 

 anywhere, even in man. But that is no reason for 

 thinking it is not a characteristic property of life. The 

 biologist who proceeds as a geometrician is too ready to 

 take advantage here of our inability to give a precise and 

 general definition of individuality. A perfect definition 

 applies only to a completed reality ; now, vital properties 

 are never entirely realized, though always on the way 

 to become so ; they are not so much states as tendencies. 

 And a tendency achieves all that it aims at only if it is not 

 thwarted by another tendency. How, then, could this 

 occur in the domain of life, where, as we shall show, the 



