324 The Theory of Genetic Modes 



the sciences which show that these axioms, although not 

 explicitly recognized save in part here and there, never- 

 theless have general application, and that their consistent 

 appHcation would throw light on some of the standing 

 puzzles of the theory of science.^ 



§ 9. Vital Phenomena and the Theory of Genetic Modes 



As between the purely mechanical or mathematical 

 sciences and that of the next ascending set of phenomena, 

 biology, recent discussion is full of illuminating matter 

 which might be cited in support of these principles. 



That the synthesis which is called life is different in 

 some respects from that of chemistry is not only the con- 

 tention of the vitalists, but also the admission of the ad- 

 herents of a physico-chemical theory of life. In reply to 

 those who think not only that living matter is a chemical 

 compound, but also that there is nothing to add to this chemi- 

 cal formula — when once it is discovered — in order to attain 

 a final explanation of life, we have only to put to them tJie 

 further problem of genesis, as over and above that of analy- 

 sis — that is, to ask not only for the analytic formula, the 

 chemical formula, for protoplasm, but also for the laws of re- 

 production and growth, which always characterize life. The 

 cross-section formula must be supplemented by the longi- 

 tudinal-section formula. Here we discover the fact that 

 the development is by a series of syntheses, each chemical, 

 but each, so far as we know, producing something new 

 — a new genetic mode. If this be denied, then we have 

 to ask the chemist to reproduce the series ; and if he 



1 Naturally the illustrations given here are from biology, as that science 

 furnishes the text of the present discourse. 



