290 



KNOWLEDGE. 



August, 1913. 



action of radium salts on sterilised bouillon, and his 

 experiments produced a "nine days' wonder" at 

 the time. Mr. Soddy, however, showed shortly 

 afterwards that the phenomenon was of a purely 

 chemical nature, no living matter being produced. 



Quite recently, Professor Leduc has described 

 certain inorganic preparations (called " osmotic 

 growths ") which resemble living bodies in some 

 respects. An " osmotic growth " may be obtained 

 by dropping a piece of a soluble calcium salt into 

 a solution of carbonate, phosphate, or silicate. The 

 dissolving calcium salt is diffused into the solution 

 and produces an insoluble carbonate, phosphate, or 

 silicate of calcium, forming a colloidal membrane 

 around the partly dissolved calcium salt. This 

 membrane offers far more resistance to the passage 

 of dissolved salt than it does to that of water. 

 Hence pressure is set up and water flows into the 

 membrane, distending it until all the calcium has 

 been used up and the membrane can no longer bear 

 the pressure. The phenomena resemble, in a way, 

 those of growth and assimilation of nutriment as 

 exhibited by living beings, and the distended mem- 

 branes assume forms not unlike those of certain 

 species of marine life. It is only by a stretch of 

 imagination, however, that we can speak of such 

 " osmotic growths " as possessing life ; but they do 

 help to illustrate the difficulty there is of drawing 

 a hard-and-fast line between living and non-living 

 matter. (See Figures 322-324.) 



Seeing that life as manifested in this world is 

 always associated with protoplasm, the suggestion 

 readily arises that protoplasm, so to speak, is 

 naturally alive ; that the chemist has only to 

 synthesise this body in order to produce 

 living from non-living matter. A good deal of 

 attention has been drawn to this theory by Professor 

 Schafer's recent presidential address to the British 

 Association on the origin of life. But the 

 theory is not a new one. Similar views have 

 been expressed by Professor Haeckel ; and the 

 present writer in 1909, as the result of a some- 

 what different manner of viewing the question, 

 expressed a conviction that chemists had only to 

 synthesise protoplasm in order to produce living 

 matter.* This synthesis has not yet been carried 

 out, but no doubt it will one day be brought about. 

 Since the day in 1828 when Wohler first synthesised 

 urea from ammonium cyanate, and thus broke down 

 the artificial (though convenient) distinction between 

 inorganicandorganic bodies, chemists have succeeded 

 in building up from simpler forms of matter an 

 enormous number of bodies hitherto only obtainable 

 from animals and plants ; and everything indicates 

 that the progress of chemistry will continue until all 

 organic products will be included in this category. 



Does this view of the subject, however, justify us 

 in holding a purely materialistic view of life, as 

 some biologists (e.g., Professor Sir E. Ray Lankester) 

 seem to believe ? The reply to this question 

 depends largely upon what we mean by life, 



Professor Schafer is very careful in his address, 

 already referred to, to indicate that by " life " he 

 does not mean " soul " ; and one cannot help 

 contrasting his cautious and scientific attitude in 

 the matter with the somewhat unscientific 

 impetuosity of Professor Sir E. Ray Lankester, 

 who has informed the readers of the Dally Mail 

 that for him this distinction does not exist. 

 Considered purely as a phenomenon occurring in 

 the physical realm, one is certainly justified in 

 looking for a scientific, that is, a mechanistic (or 

 materialistic, if one so pleases to term it) theory of 

 life. But this is not the last word on the subject. 

 Metaphysics begin where physics leave off, and the 

 problem of life still exists for the philosopher when 

 it has been solved by the man of science. 



Looked at genetically, living matter, as we have 

 indicated, appears to differ but slightly from that 

 which is called non-living : the one seems to merge 

 into the other. So must we look at life to under- 

 stand it scientifically. But to understand life 

 philosophically we must look at it when most 

 highly developed or (to speak more accurately) 

 manifested : not at the moment of its birth. In 

 other words, we must study man. And here the 

 distinction between the living and the non-living 

 becomes manifest. Matter — non-living matter — is 

 essentially inert. Man is essentially active. So 

 far as low forms of life are concerned, the 

 biologist may explain their apparently spontaneous 

 activity as the result merely of reflex action ; that 

 is, as the reaction to forces operating from without, 

 and thus involving nothing opposed to the charac- 

 teristic inertia of matter. But psychology forbids 

 us to believe that man, though subject to outside 

 influence, is moved only from without. In fact, 

 considered philosophically, the problem of life be- 

 comes the problem of soul and consciousness ; and 

 it is then evident that no materialistic explanation is 

 possible. For, since matter is known to us only in 

 terms of consciousness, the attempt to explain con- 

 sciousness in terms of matter at once places us in a 

 vicious circle from which there is no escape save by 

 repudiating our materialism. 



There seem to be only two alternatives, (i) the 

 universe is unintelligible, or (ii) all things are the 

 product of " spirit " (if I may use this term to 

 designate that reality whose characteristic property 

 is consciousness) ; and the first of these alternatives, 

 I think, is put out of court by the fact that as our 

 experience widens so do we find the universe in- 

 creasingly intelligible. 



Looked at from this standpoint, then, matter is 

 the first and lowest product or manifestation of 

 spirit. As such its properties seem to contradict 

 those of spirit. As such it is inert and lifeless. 

 But, itself the product of spirit, it forms the vehicle 

 for increasingly full manifestations of spirit. The 

 degree of manifestation depends upon the form and 

 complexity of the matter. At the protoplasmic 

 stage of evolution the manifestation begins to exhibit 



See the present writer's " Matter, Spirit, and the Cosmos" (Rider, 1910), Chapter IX, " On the Origin of Life." 



