194 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



The difference between the living organism 

 and a machine has been very carefully con- 

 sidered by Oscar Hertwig,* and as his reputa- 

 tion as a biologist stands deservedly high, it 

 will be useful to quote him in eootenso, rather 

 than to give a catena of quotations from other 

 persons. He commences by saying that it is 

 the more necessary that this matter should be 

 set in the proper light because there is a 

 tendency at the present time to try and explain 

 the living organism in the terms of a machine 

 and to believe that organic operations can be 

 accounted for in this matter. He himself main- 

 tains that very important differences exist 

 between a living organism and a machine. 



A machine can only operate in one or at 

 most in a few directions and that in an un- 

 changeable manner in accordance with its 

 original construction. Its individual parts 

 cannot, by their own power, rearrange them- 

 selves, or enter into new combinations in cor- 

 respondence with the new conditions with 

 which they may find themselves confronted. 

 Therefore the machine cannot react to outer 

 influences in a purposeful and many-sided 

 manner. The organism, on the contrary, has 

 an innate power of construction. The single 

 cell, the first step in the direction of an organ- 



* Op. cit., s. 141. 



