THE BREATH OF LIFE 



and evolution! "Life," says Spencer, "consists of 

 inner action so adjusted as to balance outer action.'* 

 True enough, no doubt, but not interesting. If the 

 philosopher could tell us what it is that brings about 

 the adjustment, and that profits by it, we should at 

 once prick up our ears. Of course, it is life. But 

 what is life? It is inner action so adjusted as to bal- 

 ance outer action ! 



A recent contemptuous critic of M. Bergson's 

 book, Hugh S. R. Elliot, points out, as if he were 

 triumphantly vindicating the physico-chemical the- 

 ory of the nature and origin of life, what a complete 

 machine a cabbage is for converting solar energy 

 into chemical and vital energy — how it takes up 

 the raw material from the soil by a chemical and 

 mechanical process, how these are brought into con- 

 tact with the light and air through the leaves, and 

 thus the cabbage is built up. In like manner, a man 

 is a machine for converting chemical energy de- 

 rived from the food he cats into motion, and the 

 like. As if M. Bergson, or any one else, would dis- 

 pute these things ! In the same way, a steam-engine 

 is a machine for converting the energy latent in coal 

 into motion and power; but what force lies back of 

 the engine, and was active in the construction? 



The final question of the cabbage and the man 

 still remains — Where did you get them? 



You assume vitality to start with — how did you 

 get it? Did it arise spontaneously out of dead mat- 



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