34 A GREAT CONFESSION CHAP. 



are " certain sets of phenomena." Their 

 true physical character is " simply 

 groups of changes." In thinking of a 

 plant, for example, we must cease to 

 speak of its living or dying. " We must 

 exclude all the ideas associated with the 

 words life or death." 1 What we do 

 know, physically, is thus defined : " That 

 there go on in the plant certain inter- 

 dependent processes in presence of 

 certain aiding or hindering influences 

 outside of it ; and that in some cases a 

 difference of structure or a favourable 

 set of circumstances allows these inter- 

 dependent processes to go on for longer 

 periods than in other cases." 



How luminous ! Milton spoke of his 

 own blindness as " knowledge at one 

 entrance quite shut out." But here we 

 have a specimen of the verbal devices by 

 which knowledge at all entrances may 

 1 P. 751- 



