ii.] THE FUNCTION OF THE INTELLECT 161 



they are not, indeed, the perception itself of things, but 

 the representation of the act by which the intellect is 

 fixed on them. They are, therefore, not images, but 

 symbols. Our logic is the complete set of rules that must 

 be followed in using symbols. As these symbols are de- 

 rived from the consideration of solids, as the rules for com- 

 bining these symbols hardly do more than express the most 

 general relations among solids, our logic triumphs in that 

 science which takes the solidity of bodies for its object, 

 that is, in geometry. Logic and geometry engender each 

 other, as we shall see a little further on. It is from the 

 extension of a certain natural geometry, suggested by the 

 most general and immediately perceived properties of 

 solids, that natural logic has arisen; then from this natural 

 logic, in its turn, has sprung scientific geometry, which 

 extends further and further the knowledge of the external 

 properties of solids. 1 Geometry and logic are strictly 

 applicable to matter; in it they are at home, and in it 

 they can proceed quite alone. But, outside this domain, 

 pure reasoning needs to be supervised by common sense, 

 which is an altogether different thing. 



Thus, all the elementary forces of the intellect tend 

 to transform matter into an instrument of action, that 

 is, in the etymological sense of the word, into an organ. 

 Life, not content with producing organisms, would fain 

 give them as an appendage inorganic matter itself, con- 

 verted into an immense organ by the industry of the living 

 being. Such is the initial task it assigns to intelligence. 

 That is why the intellect always behaves as if it were 

 fascinated by the contemplation of inert matter. It is 

 life looking outward, putting itself outside itself, adopting 

 the ways of unorganized nature in principle, in order to 

 direct them in fact. Hence its bewilderment when it 



1 We shall return to these points in the next chapter. 



