4 THE WORLD OF LIFE 



maturity, and age, die, and quickly decompose into their con- 

 stituent elements. They thus form continuous series of similar 

 individuals ; and, so long as external conditions render their 

 existence possible, seem to possess a potential immortality. 



The characteristics here enumerated are those which 

 apply to both plants and animals, and to no other forms of 

 matter whatever. It is often stated that crystals exhibit the 

 essential features of some of the lowest plants ; but it is 

 evident that, with the exception of the one item of " definite 

 form," they in no way resemble living organisms. There is 

 no doubt, however, that crystals do exhibit definite forms, 

 built up by the atoms or molecules of various elements or 

 compounds under special conditions. But this takes us a 

 very small way towards the complex structure and organisa- 

 tion of living things. 



There are still people who vaguely believe that " stones 

 grow," or that " all matter is really alive," or that, in their 

 lowest and simplest forms, the organic and the inorganic are 

 indistinguishable. For these ideas, however, there is not a 

 particle of scientific justification. But the belief that " life " is 

 a product of matter acted upon by chemical, electrical, or 

 other physical forces, is very widely accepted by men of 

 science at the present day, perhaps by a majority. It is, in 

 fact, held to be the only scientific view, under the name of 

 " monism" ; while the belief that " life " is sui generis, that it 

 is due to other laws than those which act upon dead or 

 unorganised matter, that it affords evidence of an indwelling 

 power and guidance of a special nature, is held to be un- 

 scientific — to be, in fact, an indication of something akin to, 

 if not actually constituting, an old-fashioned superstition. 

 That such a view is not uncommon may be shown by a few 

 extracts from scientific writers of some eminence. 



The well-known German biologist Ernst Haeckel, in a 

 recent work, makes the following statement : 



" The peculiar phenomenon of consciousness is not, as Du Bois- 

 Reymond and the dualistic school would have us believe, a com- 

 pletely transcendental problem ; it is, as I showed thirty-three years 

 ago, a physiological problem, and, as such, must be reduced to the 

 phenomena of physics and chemistry " (The Riddle of the Universe, 

 p. 65, translated by Joseph M'Cabe). 



