122 SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



animals, count the number of vertebrae or of ribs, 

 or the number of bones in the interior of the ear, 

 in the hand or the foot. Note, too, the breeds that 

 preserve purity of blood, what a strong resemblance 

 separate specimens have in the spots on the skin, 

 or in the designs on the feathers, in the conforma- 

 tion of the body, in the whole and in detail, and 

 even in characteristic traits. 



In man, in whom health would be the normal 

 chemical state, and in whom these conditions should 

 be observed with greater precision, the contrary is 

 the case ; on which account, as we said above, 

 society ill-treats human organisation to the point of 

 denaturalising his biological conditions. 



If we pass beyond the frontiers of organisation, 

 scrutinising beyond, where matter, combining in 

 definite and concrete proportions and forms, pro- 

 duces crystals, plants, animals ; beyond all this 

 concrete world of settled forms we find the same 

 definite laws or rhythms of force, some of which 

 man has been able to discover, and will go on 

 discovering daily, in virtue of the relation that 

 exists between Nature and intelligence. 



The Pythagorean forecast, in which number ruled 

 the universe, evolved the theory of the unity of 

 physical forces, to be to-day converted into the 

 current application of universal mechanics to all 

 orders of life. 



