CHAPTER XIII 



LIFE AS ADJUSTMENf. 



One of the cardinal propositions of Mr. Spencer's system of 

 philosophy is the definition of Life, first published in 1855, 

 in his " Principles of Psychology," but now transferred to the 

 first volume of his " Principles of Biology." According to 

 Mr. Spencer, the continuous maintenance of an equilibrium 

 between the organism and its environment is the process in 

 which life essentially consists. Life — including also intel- 

 ligence as the highest known manifestation of life — is the 

 continuous establishment of relations within the organism, 

 in correspondence with relations existing or arising in the 

 environment.^ Out of the host of illustrations by which 



^ The full definition runs thus: — "Life is the definite combination of 

 heterogeneous changes, both simultaneous and successive, in correspondence 

 with external coexistences and sequences." This is incomparably the most 

 profound and complete definition of Life that has ever been framed ; and the 

 chapter in wliich it is set forth and illustrated would alone entitle Mr. Sjjencer 

 to a jihice among the greatest thinkers that have ever lived. The objection 

 has indeed been raised, in nietapliysical quarters, that this is a definition, not 

 of Life, but of the circumstances or accidents in which Life is manilrsted. 

 Concerning this objection, we may content ourselves with tlie following re- 

 marks by Mr. Lewe.s. Both Life and Mind, says Mr. Lewes, are 2)7-ocesses. 

 "Neither is a substance ; neither is a force. To speak of Vitality as a sub- 

 stance would shock all our ideas ; but many speak of it as a force. They 

 might witli equal propriety hold Mortality to be a force. What, then, is 

 meant by Vitality, or vital forces ? If the abstraction be resolved into its 

 concretes, it will be seen that a certain prnccss, or group of processes, is con- 

 densed into a simple expression, and the iiual result of this -process is trans- 



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