ON THE GENETIC VIEW OF NATURE. 



000 



In the second chapter of this volume, which treated of . 



Genetic view 



the physical view of nature, and developed the various s ^ r | th ' 

 ideas which cluster around the term " energy," I showed ^ t *f s s tr a y nd 

 how, in the middle of the century, through the intro- 

 duction of these ideas, a new clue was gained wherewith 

 to penetrate the connection of natural phenomena in 

 time and space. Before that time the conservation of 

 matter, the rule that matter can neither be lost nor 

 created, guided research by trying to account for the 

 apparent loss or gain of matter whenever and wherever 

 changes take place in the material world. The science 

 of chemistry with its instrument the balance was built 

 on the foundation of this axiom. When, through the 

 labours of Mayer, Helmholtz, and Joule, the further 

 axiom became established that, besides matter, there 

 exists in the material universe a second quantity (or 

 substance) termed " energy," which, like matter, can be 

 changed, but which, like matter, can neither be created 

 nor annihilated, the questions began to be asked, " If we 



abroad, the merit of Mr Spencer 

 in urging the " dynamical " aspect 

 long before the ' Origin of Species ' 

 put forward a definite mechanical 

 agency is so much greater, and he 

 himself says (' Factors of Organic 

 Evolution,' p. 5): "Of the few 

 . . . who, espousing the belief in 

 a continuous evolution, had to ac- 

 count for this evolution, it must be 

 said that though the cause assigned 

 (viz., the modification of structures 

 resulting from modification of func- 

 tions) was a true cause, ... it 

 left unexplained the greater part 

 f the facts. Having been myself 

 one of these few, I look back with 

 surprise at the way in which the 

 facts which were congruous witli 

 the espoused view monopolised con- 



sciousness and kept out the facts 

 which were incongruous with it 

 conspicuous though many of them 

 were." Mr Spencer was also 

 probably the first who defined in 

 mechanical terms, applicable to 

 cosmical, lifeless, and living pheno- 

 mena alike, the process of develop- 

 ment, adopting the term evolution. 

 This fitting of the process of or- 

 ganic development into the general 

 formula of evolution, and the sub- 

 sequent announcement by Darwin 

 of the mechanical agency of over- 

 crowding and selection, has had 

 the effect of strengthening im- 

 mensely the genetic view of nature, 

 but also of obscuring and pushing 

 into the background the special 

 problem of life. 



