CHAPTER XI 



THE "SOMETHING OVER " NEO-VITALISTS AND THEIR 

 DEFINITIONS CONCLUSION 



PROFESSOR WARD l very forcibly describes the char- 

 acteristics of living matter when he speaks of its 

 " tendency to disturb existing equilibria, to reverse 

 the dissipative processes which prevail throughout 

 the inanimate world, to store and build up where 

 they are ever scattering and pulling down, the 

 tendency to conserve individual existence against 

 antagonistic forces, to grow and to progress, not 

 inertly taking the easier way but seemingly striving 

 for the best, retaining every vantage secured, and 

 working for new ones ". 



In the preceding chapters an attempt has been 

 made to show that these and the other remarkable 

 characters of living matter cannot be adequately 

 explained in terms of chemistry and physics, and 

 that the view here upheld is that of a large, an 

 important, and, it may be added, an increasing 

 number of those who have made a life-study of 

 different branches of biology. 



1 Op. cit. supra, i., 285. 

 138 



