WITH THE DOMAIN OF THE INORGANIC 71 



factoids for the course of the phenomena " (Enriques, 1914, 

 p. 368). It is useful, however, to keep a term like ^' living " 

 for organisms only. 



§ 11. Contrasts between the Reahn of Organisms and the 



Domain of the Inorganic. 



Let us turn from the resemblances to the contrasts between 

 the realm of organisms and the domain of the inorganic. 



The first great contrast is that there are no true individuals 

 in the domain of the inorganic, though there is a great di- 

 versity of quality. A crystal approaches some of the criteria 

 of being an individual — it has definiteness of form, coher- 

 ence, a capacity for a sort of growth and repair ; but a crystal 

 is homogeneous, not made up of inter-dependent parts work- 

 ing together to secure continuance either of itself or of its 

 kind. The crystal's regularity is not functional ; it is per- 

 haps the visible expression of the molecular structure. Sim- 

 ilarly, the solar system makes some approach to being an in- 

 dividual, having independence and unity in diversity, but 

 it can hardly be said that the solar system is an agent, or 

 that its working is directed towards its own continuance. 



There are few phenomena in the domain of the inorganic 

 which can be spoken of as propagative, though one may 

 think of the origin of a double star, or of the earth giving 

 birth to the moon, or of the multiplication of crystals. This 

 is in marked contrast with the abundant multiplication 

 characteristic of organisms. 



And while the volcano is insurgent enough in a sense, and 

 the breakers seem furious in their assaults on the clifi*?, 

 we know that there is no freedom of action, that everything 

 is without alternative. 



There seems no doubt as to the general fact that the solar 



