THE ORGANIC AND THE INORGANIC 325 



sequence of the chemical potentials contained in the 

 substances of the cells, the progress of these would be 

 such as to lead to the formation of substances in which 

 potential energy was minimal, and in which the original 

 energy of the cell would be represented by the un- 

 co-ordinated kinetic energy of the molecules resulting 

 from the breakdown of the substances undergoing the 

 chemical changes. This is not what happens in the 

 differentiation of the ovum : the developing cell forms 

 new substances from those of its inorganic medium 

 similar to the substances of which it is already com- 

 posed, and then these substances become arranged to 

 produce the specific form of the organism into which 

 the ovum is about to develop. 



All hypotheses which attempt to describe the 

 functioning of the differentiating ovum, or the function- 

 ing organism, in terms of the physical concepts of 

 matter and energy alone, fail on being subjected to 

 close analysis. The manifestations of the life of the 

 organism are, it is said, particular " energy-forms," of 

 the same order as light, heat, chemical and electrical 

 energy, etc. All these energy-forms are "concaten- 

 ated," that is, each can be converted into any of the 

 others. A particular frequency of the vibration of 

 the ether can be converted into a movement of the 

 molecules of a material body, and so become heat, while 

 chemical energy may become converted into electrical 

 energy, or vice versa, and so on. It is said that life may 

 be merely a transformation of some "energy-form" 

 known to us : the potential energy of food may be 

 converted into " biotic energy," and this may then 

 manifest itself in the characteristic behaviour of the 

 organism. This is the method of physical science. 

 Energy continually disappears from our knowledge : 

 the mechanical energy which was employed to carry a 



