Sketch of an Organismal Theory of Consciousness 289 



and the new substances, be accepted at their face value, that 

 is to say, at a value which is as near to ultimate truth as any 

 truth whatever, connected with the phenomena. 



The elemental constitution of bodies is an inference, al- 

 ways and solely, drawn from their observed corporeal attri- 

 butes. And chemistry is the science which assumes the task 

 of drawing, elaborating, and systematizing these inferences 

 on the basis of the transformation of the attributes. The 

 meaning of the statement that chemistry is one of the natural 

 sciences is that chemistry is the science which uses its natural 

 history observations to penetrate still more deeply into the 

 constitution of bodies. Natura a natura vmcitur, nature is 

 surrounded by, is contained in nature, is as fundamental a 

 truth for chemistry as for any other natural science. A 

 living being is as much a natural body as is a piece of phos- 

 phorus, and its obvious attributes, its outer-layer attributes, 

 are as essential to its nature as are its inner, its hidden 

 attributes. So any genuinely transformatory changes, and 

 genuinely new products arising through the reaction between 

 the living body and some other body is so far chemical in 

 nature, and the reacting bodies are so far chemical. 



A long step toward justifying the proposition that each 

 individual living organism has the value, chemically, of an 

 elementary substance, will be taken if it can be shown that 

 any qualitatively new product whatever results from the 

 interaction between the organism acting as a unit, as one, 

 as an element, and some other element. Having regard to 

 the entire world of living beings, the chances for finding new 

 products which may have arisen in this manner are prac- 

 tically if not theoretically infinite. Manifestly, then, only a 

 very small sector of the entire range of such possible produc- 

 tions can be searched. It must, consequently, be our aim, as 

 always in handling inductive natural history evidence, to 

 choose for examination evidence which shall be most clear- 

 cut, most illustrative, and most convincing. 



