CHAPTER VII 



THE WONDEK OF LIFE 

 (CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING CREATURES) 



4 past anD future arc unknown to ber, Gbe present is ber 

 eternity Sbe Is beneficent, . / 



* Sbe is complete, but never finfsbeo. Bs sbe works now, 

 so can sbe always work, . * / 



4 Sbe is ever sbaping new forms ; wbat is, bas never get 

 been ; wbat bas been, comes not again, J6verp.tbincj is new, 

 ano p.et nauabt but tbe olo.' 



Goethe's Aphorisms, translated by Huxley. 



The Creature Itself Organisms and Mechanisms The Insignia 

 of Life Down-breaking and Up-building The Power of 

 Growing Capacity for Behaviour Power of Reproducing 

 Development Variability Simulacra Vitae Difficult Pheno- 

 menaThe Powers of Life Correlation The Subtlety of Life 

 Adaptation Regeneration The Crowning Wonder of Evolu- 

 tion Vitalism. 



WE have considered organisms as actors in a drama, 

 living in haunts, conquering space, trading 

 with time, and passing from phase to phase in their indivi- 

 dual life-histories. Let us now change our point of view 

 and think of the living creature itself. What are the great 

 facts in regard to it and its living that stand out when we 

 get to a little distance, and are not embarrassed by the 

 details of anatomy, physiology, embryology and the like ? 



THE CREATURE ITSELF 



Were it not for the difficulty of seeing things clearly, 

 thoroughly, and imaginatively, all educated men, with 



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