CHAPTER XIV 



THE LAW OF THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY 

 " Laws " of Nature Energies of Life Matter and Form. 



IT will be remembered that Driesch in his 

 historical sketch alluded to two scientific dis- 

 coveries and theories which had had a powerful 

 effect in discountenancing vitalism, at least for 

 atime. 



Law of( / yThe first, and by far the more important of 

 conscrv ~ these, j s t ne difficulty presented or supposed to 

 energy be presented by the Law of the Conservation of 

 Energy. 



Physical energy, that is to say the capacity 

 for doing work, may be of two kinds. It may 

 be kinetic or in actual evidence, as it is in a 

 flying bullet or a moving railway-train, or it 

 may be potential or not evident to the careless 

 eye as it is in a suspended weight. Now many 

 experiments have been made respecting these 

 different kinds of energy and respecting the 

 different varieties of energy of which we shall 

 have to speak shortly, and as a result of these 

 experiments the following facts emerge or 

 appear to emerge. 



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