136 INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE 



is in certain conditions the physical basis of "life" 

 and the home of the "soul." And beyond this 

 there is the philosophical aspect of the problem 

 of matter. 



As in its analytic so in its historical treatment 

 of things Science must confess its limitations. It 

 begins, not at the beginning that is impossible, 

 but from something "given," which it does not 

 explain, which in the last resource it cannot explain. 

 From this something given say primitive Amoe- 

 bae much seems to have been evolved, and 

 Biology seeks to discover both the stages and 

 the operative factors in the evolution. But if 

 the primitive Amoebae gave rise "in the natural 

 course of events" to higher organisms, and these 

 to higher, until there emerged the supreme Mam- 

 mal, who by and by had a theory of it all, then 

 the primitive Amoebae which had in them the 

 promise and potency of all this were very wonder- 

 ful Amoebae indeed. There must have been more 

 in them than met the eye! We must stock them 

 with initiatives at least. We are taking a good 

 deal as "given." 



Finally, it must be recognized that the terms of 

 scientific descriptions in their higher reaches are 

 "conceptual formulae." We speak glibly of 

 "Matter," "Energy," "Ether," "Atom," and so 

 on, but these are intellectual counters, rather 

 than the realities themselves. They are, so to 



