198 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



forces) is turned." This explanation to the 

 careless no doubt sounds to the full as satis- 

 factory as did the blessed word Mesopotamia, 

 but when we come to examine the meaning 

 of the phrase we find that the explanation is 

 not really an explanation at all. 



In the first place we may well ask, what are 

 "Polari- these " polarities "? They seem to be nothing 

 more or less than our old friends the " adap- 

 tations," which in other words mean the 

 powers of the cell. So that the sentence really 

 means, the powers of the cell determine what 

 it shall do under certain circumstances, which 

 is just what we knew all along. This explana- 

 tion is an excellent example of what Professor 

 Ward * alludes to when he points out that the 

 system of explaining everything which is 

 " going " because it is " going " is admirable 

 " once you have got inside the system," but 

 has no claim to be looked upon as a full 

 explanation. No doubt the cell does conform 

 itself to circumstances by virtue of the powers 

 which it possesses, but to call these powers 

 " polarities " and then to suppose that you 

 have explained how they came to exist and 

 how they carry on their operations is to be 

 guilty of the merest word-explanation. 



The fact is that we must attribute the un- 



* Naturalism and Agnosticism, ii., 271. 



