200 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



organism as a whole cannot be explained from 

 a physico-chemical viewpoint rests most strongly 

 on the existence of animal instincts and will. 

 Many of the instinctive actions are 6 purposeful,' 

 i.e., assisting to preserve the individual and the 

 race. This again suggests ' design ' and a de- 

 signing ' force,' which we do not find in the 

 Loeb realm of physics. We must remember, however, 

 that there was a time when the same ' purpose- 

 fulness ' was believed to exist in the cosmos 

 where everything seemed to turn literally and 

 metaphorically around the earth, the abode of 

 man. In the latter case, the anthropo- or geo- 

 centric view came to an end when it was shown 

 that the motions of the planets were regulated 

 by Newton's law, and that there was no room 

 left for the activities of a guiding power. Like- 

 wise, in the realm of instincts, when it can be 

 shown that these instincts may be reduced to 

 elementary physico-chemical laws, the assump- 

 tion of design becomes superfluous." (Italics 

 mine.) Is it possible that anyone can fail to see 

 that the question of helio- or geo-centricism do 

 not even touch that of " purposefulness." 



Let those who have any temptation to forget 

 the difference between the interior and exterior of 

 f ? *" y-i* a system, consider the parable of the "philosophi- 

 cal mouse" which we owe to another Dr Ward.* 



* W. G. Ward, of Oxford Movement fame, in his Philo- 

 sophy of Theism. 



