PROXIMATE CONCEPTION OF LIFE. 85 



change of temperature, change of electric state; and these 

 several kinds of change are continuously displayed in different 

 degrees and combinations. Yet when we observe that very 

 few inorganic objects manifest heterogeneity of change com 

 parable to that manifested by organic objects, and further, 

 that in ascending from low to high forms of life, we meet 

 with an increasing variety in the kinds of changes displayed ; 

 we see that there is here a further leading distinction between 

 vital and non-vital actions. According to this modified con 

 ception, then, Life is made up of heterogeneous changes both 

 simultaneous and successive. 



If, now, we look for some trait common to the nutritive 

 and logical processes, by which they are distinguished from 

 those inorganic processes that are most like them in the 

 heterogeneity of the simultaneous and successive changes 

 they comprise, we discover that they are distinguished by 

 the combination among their constituent changes. The acts 

 which make up digestion are mutually dependent. Those 

 composing a train of reasoning are in close connection. And, 

 generally, it is to be remarked of vital changes, that 

 each is made possible by all, and all are affected by each. 

 Respiration, circulation, absorption, secretion, in their many 

 sub-divisions, are bound up together. Muscular contraction 

 involves chemical change, change of temperature, and change 

 in the excretions. Active thought influences the operations 

 of the stomach, of the heart, of the kidneys. But we miss 

 this union among non-vital activities. Life-like as may 

 seem the action of a volcano in respect of the heterogeneity 

 of its many simultaneous and successive changes, it is not life 

 like in respect of their combination. Though the chemical, 

 mechanical, thermal, and electric phenomena exhibited have 

 some inter-dependence, yet the emissions of stones, mud, lava, 

 flame, ashes, smoke, steam, take place irregularly in quantity, 

 order, intervals, and mode of conjunction. Even here, 



however, it cannot be said that inanimate things present no 

 parallels to animate ones. A glacier may be instanced as 



