84 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. n. 



Let us now, in accordance with these general considera- 

 tions, begin by contemplating the phenomena of Mind as 

 gradually differentiated from the phenomena of Life ; reserv- 

 ing for another chapter the interpretation of sundry psycho- 

 logical truths in terms of the law of evolution. And first 

 let us reconsider the definition of life which was briefly 

 illustrated in the preceding chapter. We saw that life 

 essentially consists in the continuous adjustment of relations 

 within the organism to relations in the environment. And 

 we saw that the degree of life is low or high, according as 

 the correspondence between internal and external relations is 

 limited or extensive, partial or complete, simple or complex. 

 We saw that the lowest forms of life respond to the changes 

 going on about them only in a simple, imperfect, and general 

 way. A tree, for instance, meeting by changes within itself 

 none but physical and chemical changes which occur with 

 general uniformity in the environment, exhibits life in a very 

 simple and unobtrusive form. We habitually regard it as 

 less alive than a polyp, because the polyp, by displaying 

 nascent sensitiveness and contractility, responds to a greater 

 variety of more special external stimuli. Yet the polyp, 

 possessing no specialized organs of sense, can oppose but one 

 sort of action to many diverse kinds of impression. Pheno- 

 mena so different as those of light and heat, sound and 

 mechanical impact, can affect it in but one or two ways, — by 

 causing it to move, or by slightly altering its chemical con- 

 dition. The modes of response to outer relations are few and 

 homogeneous. Passing abruptly to civilized man, at the otlier 

 end of the animal scale, we find a different state of things. 

 To each kind of external stimulus there are many possible 

 modes of response. Not only, for example, does the human 

 organism sharply distinguish between variations which 

 afiect the eye and those which affect tlie ear; not only do 

 eye and ear, which are themselves organs of amazing com- 

 plexity, discern an endless number of differing tones and 



