THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



established. The physics of the Ether now place 

 together, if not identify as one and the same, phenom- 

 ena which were once considered to have nothing in 

 common. Life is now thought to be directly and 

 absolutely dependent upon the energy exerted by and 

 through the Ether. 



The definition of Life here given expresses better 

 what it is now thought to be than the one that was 

 formulated by Herbert Spencer forty odd years ago. 



Life is that form of Energy, which, through an 

 existing organism, alters and assimilates similar and 

 dissimilar molecules into combinations with the orig- 

 inal structure, and which, though keeping or increas- 

 ing its own organism and its functions, can separate 

 a part of its substance to form a new body with 

 properties and powers like its own. 



In this statement recognition is given to the cor- 

 relation of the energy that life manifests with other 

 forms of energy. It is endeavored, later on, to show 

 also that all the phenomena that Life offers, includ- 

 ing sensation, consciousness and will, have therein 

 their origin ; the medium, the Plasmodium of plant 

 or animal life, being the mechanism only through 

 which this protean power finds expression. The 

 mechanism may be, in the simpler forms of life, ap- 

 parently without differentiation of parts, but becomes 

 highly differentiated and complex in organization as 



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