370 What are Animals and Plants f 



reduction of all the phenomena of nature to mechanics/ 

 Helmholtz has declared that ' the aim of the natural sciences 

 is to resolve themselves into mechanics.' According to 

 Wundt, 'the problem of physiology is a reduction of 

 vital phenomena to general physical laws, and ultimately 

 to the fundamental laws of mechanics'; and Haeckel 

 tells us that 'aU natural phenomena without exception, 

 from the motions of the celestial bodies to the growth 

 of plants and the consciousness of men . . . are ultimately 

 to be reduced to atomic mechanics.' 



Many, if not most, of the scientific men of our day 

 strongly favour a mechanical explanation of nature, and 

 treat with disfavour, not to say contempt, the conception of a 

 distinct hvad of energy or a 'Vital Force' — a conception 

 which has been maintained by a school of physiologists called 

 on that account ' vitalists.' 



Now it is surely not to be supposed that this preference 

 for 'mechanism' by so many distinguished men of science 

 can be due to any mere prejudice on their part, or that there 

 are not some good and substantial reasons why they should 

 favour it, and yet it is hard to suppose that the common- 

 sense of mankind, which has ever opposed the mechanical 

 view, can be entirely due to a mere delusion either, and have 

 no sohd support from reason ! 



Let us first for a moment consider what is the aim and 

 end of all physical science. Surely it is to understand the 

 co-existences and successions of natural phenomena in such a 

 way that they cannot only be arranged in convenient groups 

 suitable for the limited powers of the human intellect to 

 grasp, but also serve as a basis of scientific prediction — while 

 the coming true of ' predictions ' which men of science feel 

 justified in making affords a strong ground for behoving that 

 the operations which served as a basis for such fulfilled pre- 

 dictions were themselves true. 



