Herbert Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy. 109 



think, change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, but the in- 

 tegration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion, which we 

 see exemplified in the concentration of units that form a crystal as 

 well as in the combination of elements that compose the structure of 

 a complex organism. And consider a moment how the integration of 

 matter, the combinations of several elements into one body, gives rise 

 to heterogeneity and differentiation in the inorganic as well as in the 

 organic world. Think of the different combinations and transposi- 

 tions of which the elements admit, and the multitude of substances 

 thus produced. Add a molecule of carbon to a hundred molecules of 

 iron, and a peculiar hardness is produced by the conversion of the iron 

 into steel. Carbon in variously proportioned combinations with oxy- 

 gen and nitrogen develops the several properties of wood, fruits, 

 grain, grasses, tobacco, and opium. Carbon united with oxygen as 

 carbonic-acid gas combines with molecules of the metal calcium in 

 forming lime-rocks and marbles, the bones of animals, and beautiful 

 translucent pearls. A triple alliance of molecules of hydrogen, oxygen, 

 and carbon imparts a wonderful diversity of proportion to a multi- 

 tude of organic substances, as wood, vegetable oil, animal flesh, and 

 fat. Hydrogen molecules united with oxygen are converted into acids, 

 and, combined with nitrogen, are converted into alkaloids, as in the 

 formation of ammonia. If the proportion of molecules of nitrogen 

 and oxygen in the atmosphere, composed by weight of nitrogen 

 seventy-seven and of oxygen twenty-three, be reversed to oxygen 

 seventy-seven and nitrogen twenty-three, nitric acid is developed. 

 Vinegar, burnt sugar, butter, animal fat, nutmeg oil, are all composed 

 of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in different proportions. Opium and 

 quinine contain the same elements in different proportions. It is un- 

 necessary to multiply illustrations to show that the union of diverse 

 elements in different proportions gives us compounds more or less 

 homogeneous in substance, but all differentiated from one another as 

 to substance as well as in form and motion. The number of such sub- 

 stances is limited only by the inconceivably immense number of com- 

 binations and varying proportions in which between sixty and seventy 

 elements may unite. So the combination of heterogeneous elements 

 in substances less heterogeneous is a process by which variety, differ- 

 entiation, and heterogeneity, in substance as well as in form, have 

 been produced. By this process has grown, from a nebulous mass, a 

 planet with all its variety of water, land, and sky, fitted for the habita- 

 tion of living creatures, themselves an exemplification of the same 

 process. It is the primary law of evolution. 



8. In the process of evolution, increase of heterogeneity 

 results from " the multiplication of effects," for in "actions 

 and reaction of force and matter an unlikeness of either of 

 the factors necessitates an unlikeness of the effects." All 

 parts of a body can not be conditioned precisely alike with 

 reference to the environment, since the parts must be sub- 

 ject to unlike forces and to different intensities of the same 

 force. Exemplifications of the instability of the homogene- 

 ous are afforded by the rusting of iron, the uneven cooling 



