VITALISM 23 



that living organisms seem everywhere to 

 present evidence of an autonomy of their own. 

 They seem to go their own way, and pur 

 sue their own ends, in spite of all kinds of 

 disturbing conditions. In a physical and 

 chemical environment which is constantly 

 changing in one respect or another, they 

 develop or maintain certain characteristic 

 peculiarities of structure and activity, and 

 pursue a characteristic life-history. Mech 

 anisms which would cause them to do this 

 under the very varied conditions which they 

 experience seem hardly conceivable. Hence 

 we must assume in the case of each 

 organism the presence of some influence 

 which is constantly guiding in the right 

 direction the otherwise blind physical and 

 chemical processes within the living organism. 

 This assumed influence is best known under 

 the name of ' vital force ' ; but such a name 

 is evidently unsuitable, as the word * force ' is 

 usually employed to designate physical and 

 chemical phenomena of a very different 

 character. The expressions * vital principle/ 

 or ' entelechy ' (proposed recently by Driesch) 

 are more suitable. 



