GENERAL ADAPTATION 21 



If it were possible to isolate the earth from the 

 rest of the universe, life would be immediately 

 extinguished on our planet, just as an electric light 

 goes out with an interruption of the current, and 

 the earth, having lost its equilibrium and declined 

 from its orbit, would disappear in space. It is not 

 possible to conceive of a change of energy without 

 a concomitant change of matter. The organisation 

 goes on because it is an essential condition of the 

 force the continuity and the persistence of the 

 rhythm to which it is subject. When the sun and 

 the other planets were in a state of primitive nebula 

 no organisation was possible, by reason of the great 

 diffusion of matter. 



The transformation of a part of the nebulas into 

 sun argues a great integration of matter and a 

 great concentration of energy. In the same way, 

 when the substance which has to form the brain 

 is floating in space it has the minimum of strength ; 

 but from the moment that this substance in- 

 tegrates and organises itself to form the brain of 

 an Aristotle, for example it acquires an extra- 

 ordinary energy. The virtue of the force is in 

 proportion to the quantity, quality, and structure 

 of the integrated matter. 



