ii A FUTURE GOVERNS GERMS 117 



with Mr. Spencer. Numberless writers 

 before him have indeed implied it in 

 their descriptions of embryological phe- 

 nomena, and of the later growth of 

 adapted organs. But, so far as I know, 

 no writer before Mr. Spencer has per- 

 ceived so clearly its universal truth, or 

 has raised it to the rank of a funda- 

 mental principle of philosophy. This he 

 has done in his Principles of Biology, 

 pointing out that it constitutes the main 

 difference between the organic and the 

 inorganic world. Crystals grow, but 

 when they have been formed there is an 

 end of the operation. They have no 

 future. But the growth of a living 

 organ is always premonitory of, and pre- 

 parative for, the future discharge of some 

 functional activity. As Mr. Spencer 

 expresses it, " changes in inorganic 

 things have no apparent relations to 

 future external events which are sure, 



