CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX 



SOME GENERAL RESULTS 



I. FROM our survey of the field of biology we observe : Lawsofiife 



a. That life processes are governed by natural laws ; 

 that is, events follow each other in certain sequences, 

 which can be observed and classified, and the results 

 used as guides in estimating probabilities for the future. 



b. These "laws," -in reality simply statements of 

 what happens, in all their more fundamental aspects, 

 apply equally to animals and plants. We must there- 

 fore conclude that they began to operate at the dawn 

 of life, and will do so while life exists. In other words, 

 they represent the necessary activities of protoplasm. 



c. Science does not reveal all these laws, and prob- 

 ably never will do so. The conscious mind transcends 

 the phenomena in such a way that it is able to survey 

 them as though from a place apart. It is a marvelous 

 instrument, yet with limitations of many kinds, and it 

 is impossible for it to know or understand more than a 

 small part of nature. 



d. Nevertheless, great advances in knowledge have Limitations 

 been made, and greater will be made in the future. dge Wl " 

 Reality is boundless, but truth is reality made manifest ; 



the boundaries of truth are ever being enlarged. We 

 speak of the physical universe, that which may be appre- 

 ciated by our senses, may be observed and recorded, or 

 made the subject of experiment. This is the subject 

 matter of science. Beyond this is the metaphysical 

 realm, into which we enter by reason of our imagination, 

 postulating the unknown from the known. Here be- 

 long what William James called our "over-beliefs," 

 which form the basis of our religion. The meta- 

 physical field, as knowledge grows, is conquered by the 



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