MR. SPENCERS DEFINITION OF LIFE 



Spencer, after carefully weighing each word and its 

 meaning, gives this : " Life is the definite combination 

 of heterogeneous changes, both simultaneous and 

 successive, in correspondence with external co-exist- 

 ences and sequences." John Fiske* remarks that 

 metaphysicians object that this is a definition, not of 

 Life, but of the circumstances in which Life is mani- 

 fested," but adds that Mr. Lewes answers "that 

 Life is a process. It is neither a substance nor a 

 force," and approves of the definition as appropriate. 

 In this instance, apparently, the metaphysicians are 

 correct. Mr. Spencer's definition is not a definition of 

 the process or processess that either constitute or 

 manifest life ; it is a statement of the conditions, with- 

 out which life is excluded, rather than a description 

 of what Life is. This is shown, not only in the sen- 

 tence itself, but also in the chapters of Mr. Spencer's 

 Biology, wherein he carefully adds to the partial 

 definition as at first given, word after word, to dis- 

 tinguish it from the definitions of other and older 

 writers, whose definitions embraced too wide fields, 

 including therein crystallization, the action of galvanic 

 batteries, the changes by decomposition in a dead 

 body, etc. Since his definition was published, nearly 

 forty-five years ago, the doctrine of the conversion and 

 the conservation of Energy has become more firmly 



* Cosmic Philosophy. Vol. 2d. P. 67. 

 213 



