THE NATURE OF MATTER 53 



differing " in kind," but at all events we shall expect remark- 

 able and unique properties. 



It is, perhaps, one of the most curious features of Sir 

 Oliver Lodge's book that it is he who expects properties 

 differing "in kind" to emerge from these complex 

 groupings of atoms. The proposition I quote at the 

 beginning of the last paragraph is his (p. 186). He insists 

 that " fresh qualities altogether are liable to be introduced 



or to make their appearance at certain stages in the 



building up of a complex mass." I will not go through his 

 arguments from analogy, which are largely unsound; but his 

 conclusion is sound enough. It does not require a pro- 

 found knowledge of physics or chemistry to see that, as the 

 properties of matter change with its combinations, this 

 wonderful complex that we call plasm will exhibit remark- 

 able and characteristic properties. But every admirer of 

 our distinguished physicist must be puzzled by the sequel. 

 After the fine analysis of protoplasm that leads him to the 

 expectation I have quoted, he turns round, when he finds 

 protoplasm actually exhibiting characteristic movements, 

 and says we must call in an immaterial principle to explain 

 them. He has practically explained the vital functions of 

 the lowest organisms to us in mechanical terms, and then 

 he tells us he thinks it erroneous to say that " the complex 

 aggregate generated the life." When hydrogen and oxygen 

 unite, or chlorine and sodium combine, we admit that "the 

 complex aggregate " generated, or made up by transfer, the 

 properties of the resultant water or salt. When the 

 chemist combines three or four elements to produce the 



