276 READINGS IN EVOLUTION, GENETICS, AND EUGENICS 



of energy; for example, it far outweighs that arising from the gravita- 

 tional energy which is an ample supply for our cosmic system, the 

 explanation being that the minutest energy elements of which radium 

 is composed are moving at incredible velocities, approaching often 

 the velocity of light, i.e., 180,000 miles per second. The energy of 

 radium differs from the supposed energy of hfe in being constantly 

 dissipated and degraded; its apparently unlimited power is being 

 lost and scattered. 



We may imagine that the energy which lies in the life-germ of 



heredity is very great per unit of mass of the matter which contains 



* it, but that the life-germ energy, unlike that of radium, is in process 



of accumulation, construction, conservation, rather than of dissipation 



and destruction. 



Following the time (1620) when Francis Bacon divined that heat 

 consists of a kind of motion or brisk agitation of the particles of 

 matter, it has step by step been demonstrated that the energy of heat, 

 of light, of electricity, the electric energy of chemical configurations, 

 the energy of gravitation, are all utilized in living as well as in lifeless 

 substances. Moreover, no form of energy has thus far been discovered 

 in living substances which is peculiar to them and not derived from 

 the inorganic world. In a broad sense all these manifestations of 

 energy are subject to Newton's dynamical laws which were formulated 

 in connection with the motions of the heavenly bodies, but are found 

 to apply equally to all motions great or little. 



These three fundamental laws are as follows : 



I I 



Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo Every body perseveres in its state of 



quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in rest, or of uniform motion in a right 



directum, nisi quatenus illud a viribus line, unless it is compelled to change 



impressis cogitur statum suum mutare. that state by forces impressed thereon. 



n II 



Mutationem motus proportionalcm The alteration of motion is ever 



esse vi molrici impressae, et fieri sccun- proportional to the motive force im- 

 dum lineam rectam qua vis ilia im- pressed ; and is made in the direction of 

 primitur. the right line in which that force is 



impressed. 



in III 



Actioni contrariam semper et aequa- To every action there is always 



lem esse reactionem: sive corporum opposed an equal reaction: or the 



duorum actiones in se mutuo semper mutual actions of two bodies upon each 



esse aequales et in partes contrarias other are always equal, and directed to 



dirigi. contrary parts. 



