LECTURE II. 



THE REALM OF ORGANISMS CONTRASTED WITH 

 THE DOMAIN OF THE INORGANIC. 



1. Things and Living Creatures. 2. The Characteristic Features 

 of the Realm of Organisms. 3. A Multitude of Individual- 

 ities, yet a Systema Naturae. 4. Abundance and Insurgence 

 of Life. 5. Struggle and Sifting. 6. A System of Inter- 

 related Lives. 7. The Prevalence of Adaptations. 8. The 

 Pervasiveness of Beauty. 9. The Other Side of the Picture. 

 10. Resemblances between the Realm of Organisms and the 

 Domain of the Inorganic. 11. Contrasts between the Realm 

 of Organisms and the Domain of the Inorganic. 12. The 

 Suitability of the Inorganic to be the Basis and Environment 

 of the Organic. 



1. Things and Living Creatures. 



IN the concrete fulness of the world without, we distin- 

 guish by common consent the realm of organisms and the 

 domain of the inorganic. Sun and stars, sky and sea, moun- 

 tains and rivers, the air we breathe and the dust beneath our 

 feet, crystals and precious stones, it seems like colour-blind- 

 ness to sum this up in the negative and unattractive term 

 ' inorganic \ But better that than use a question-begging 

 word. 



We must not dogmatically say ' inanimate ' Nature, for 

 it is making a sweeping assertion to declare that the inor- 

 ganic cannot have a meta-kinetic aspect. Nor is it quite 

 satisfactory to speak of ' the mechanical order of things ' , for 

 we ourselves illustrate mechanical principles, even when we 

 raise our arm or eyebrow in protest. Moreover, it cannot 

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