50 A GREAT CONFESSION CHAP. 



But if "outer" and "inner" are used 

 to express the idea of some essential 

 mechanical separation between different 

 parts of the same organism, so that one 

 part may be represented as more the 

 result of surrounding forces than another 

 then this rude and mechanical illustra- 

 tion is not only empty, but profoundly 

 erroneous. The forces which work in 

 and upon organic life know nothing of 

 outness and inness. They shine through 

 the materials which they build up and 

 mould, as light shines through the 

 clearest glass. Even the most purely 

 physical of those concerned are inde- 

 pendent of such relations. Gravitation 

 knows nothing of inness and outness. 

 The very air, which seems so external 

 to us, does not merely bathe or lave 

 the skin, but permeates the blood, and 

 its elements are the very breath of life 

 in every tissue of the body. The more 



