222 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



In fact, Schuster calculated that the separate 

 vibrations amongst the atoms of an element 

 do not differ from one another so much as would 

 be represented, in a collection of clocks, by 

 one out of every eight losing or gaining one 

 second in every twenty-three days. Rigidity 

 of this kind is not recognisable in the realm 

 of life, where an additional factor appears in 

 the shape of that tricksy sprite Variation, the 

 cause of which has so far eluded all observers. 

 Yet its operations we see around us every day 

 of our lives, and they are the basis of the 

 transformist hypothesis. 



There are small variations which seem to 

 oscillate round a centre, the small variations 

 on the accumulation of which Darwin counted 

 but which to-day have lost with most biologists 

 the distinction which they once possessed as the 

 foundation of new species. There are large 

 variations, sudden in character and now known 

 as Mutations, as to which there can be scarcely 

 any doubt in the vegetable world, even though 

 doubts have been thrown on the character of 

 de Vries' classical observations on the Evening 

 Primrose. The fact is that we know too little 

 about this last factor to attempt to bring it into 

 any final synthesis with any feeling of security. 



If philosophy is the Scientia Scientiarum, she 

 must look to the other sciences for her facts, and 



