28 THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 



returns to the " reservoir," and is not dissolved into inorganic 

 energies. The first living things were, it is true, an arrange- 

 ment of pre-existing matter and energies, but an arrangement 

 by a different kind of entity altogether, which would one 

 day return to its spirit-world. 



That is just where the law of parsimony steps in. You 

 must not multiply things "without necessity." Matter and 

 energy exist, we all know (except a few metaphysicians, who 

 are not sure). You must not add a third irreducible element, 

 life, unless you are quite clear that it cannot be a further 

 development of inorganic energy. You must not assume 

 that some mystic " reservoir " of spiritual " power " exists 

 besides visible nature, unless you have very strong proof. 

 You must not say the first living organisms cannot have been 

 evolved, like everything else before and since, unless you 

 can point to very clear characters of the vital " power " that 

 make this impossible. The only "necessity "for multiplying 

 fundamental factors is when you have a phenomenon that 

 demonstratively cannot be reduced to the familiar terms of 

 matter and energy. Our temporary inability to reduce it to 

 those terms is not a reason for regarding it as irreducible. 



Sir Oliver Lodge claims that life is a phenomenon of this 

 character. Let us see where he discovers the features of the 

 vital principle that give it this unique position. 



