208 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 



Carry such speculations to their limits. Imagine minds which, 

 just as we synthesise in perception billions of ether vibrations to 

 make visible radiation, might synthesise hundreds of lunar 

 revolutions or solar ones in a single perception. Or in such a 

 mind all the changes that make up the origin, growth, and decay 

 *• of a solar system might be gathered up as a single perception. 

 As the rhythm of duration thus successively slows down the 

 existence in time (with respect to astronomical, periodic events) 

 would become more and more prolonged, and in the limit it 

 would be without end, or immortal. But note that for such an 

 immortal mind all the details of the universe, and its changes, 

 that exist for us would be unknown, inasmuch as they would be 

 synthesised in other perceptions which can have no meaning for us. 



To summarise, then, the very important results that we have 

 now obtained: 



If we regard the laws of conservation of energy and augmenta- 

 tion of entropy as of universal validity, we come to an impasse. 

 For the latter law tells us that the changes that occur in the 

 universe tend towards absolute degradation of energy, and there- 

 fore towards cessation of all physical phenomena. But since there 

 .can be no limit to past time, this ultimate degradation ought to 

 have already occurred, and we know that it has not occurred. 



Therefore the second law is not of universal application. We 

 must postulate that it may be reversed, so that, in certain circum- 

 stances, energy that has become unavailable may again become 

 available. In other words, we are compelled to think about the 

 universe that we know as a mechanism that has been started, and 

 is now running down. There must be some means of winding it up. 



We can imagine no logical reason why iinavailable energy 

 should not pass into the available foim; all that we can say is 

 that, in our experience, this transformation does not occur. 

 Then, since absolute reUance upon our experience of the universe 

 brings us to an impasse, we must conclude that this experience 

 cannot be inclusive of all that happens. 



There must be two directions taken by energy transformations. 

 In one of these energy is continually degraded and entropy 

 becomes augmented. That such changes occur is highly probable 

 — so probable that we know by actual observation of no other 

 direction of change. In the other direction available energy 

 becomes restored, and entropy diminishes. That these changes 



