SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY 143 



the reality of a human ovum if we knew all about 

 the properties of its proteid molecules, nor that 

 we could predict from that knowledge whether 

 the ovum would develop into a genius or a fool. 



THE SECRET OF THE ORGANISM. One of the 

 boundary-lines which is prominent in modern eyes 

 is that between the inanimate and the animate, 

 the not-living and the living. We call the bulk 

 of things we see. "purely physical"; we call a 

 minority "physical and vital." We speak of this 

 distinction as if it were self-evident, but we must 

 not forget the panzoism of the savage and the 

 child, the poet and the philosopher. To the 

 former the distinction is unknown; by the latter 

 it has been transcended. To simple people and 

 to children, not-living bodies are often as alive 

 as birds, and even the matter-of-fact man forgets 

 his conventional philosophy on the golf-course 

 and the curling-pond, commanding and upbraid- 

 ing, encouraging and condemning, his ball or stone 

 as if it were indeed a living creature. In spite of 

 many resolute efforts on the part of philosophers 

 and scientists alike the boundary-line between 

 the living and the not-living remains, and seems 

 likely to remain for long. As it is of some impor- 

 tance in our outlook, let us consider this distinction 

 between plants, animals and persons on the one 

 hand and "mere things" on the other. 



In the first place in regard to the inanimate, 



