Man's Place in Nature 243 



why — often begin by pointing out that this bank- 

 ruptcy is a foregone conckision because of the 

 debts with which science starts. But to make 

 apologetic capital of this is again to fail to under- 

 stand what the aim of science is. 



(3) It is legitimate, at present at least, to main- 

 tain that, when we pass from inanimate to animate 

 nature, we cannot redescribe vital phenomena in 

 terms of mechanical categories. In life there is 

 something new — in any case there is new synthesis 

 of matter and energy with new properties more 

 wonderful than those of radium. Nothing per- 

 haps is gained by postulating a vital principle 

 or a vital force, but the mechanical categories, 

 as at present formulated, do not enable us to 

 read the secret of the organism. If the ani- 

 mate world has emerged from the bosom of 

 the inanimate, then the common denominator of 

 Matter, Energy, Ether must include the poten- 

 tiality of giving rise in appropriate conditions 

 to what we call life. This invests the common 

 denominator with even more significance than 

 before. 



(4) It is legitimate to point out that the most 

 real thing in the world to us is our own conscious 

 experience. In thinking about ourselves, mind 

 is as necessary a postulate as ether is to the physi- 

 cist. When we pass from.ourselves to the behaviour 

 of other living creatures, we cannot leave mind 



