THE BAFFLING PROBLEM 



Much of this ash takes the form of urea, and "the 

 seizing upon the urea by the kidney cells is a vital 

 phenomenon." Is not the peristaltic movement of 

 the bowels, by which the solid matter is removed, 

 also a vital phenomenon? Is not the conception of a 

 pipe or a tube that forces semi-fluid matter along its 

 hollow interior, by the contraction of its walls, quite 

 beyond the reach of mechanics? The force is as 

 mechanical as the squeezing of the bulb of a syringe 

 by the hand, but in the case of the intestines, what 

 does the squeezing? The vital force? 



When the mechanical and chemical concepts are 

 applied to the phenomena of the nervous system, 

 they work very well till we come to mental phe- 

 nomena. When we try to correlate physical energy 

 with thought or consciousness, we are at the end of 

 our tether. Here is a gulf we cannot span. The 

 theory of the machine breaks down. Some other 

 force than material force is demanded here, namely, 

 psychical, — a force or principle quite beyond the 

 sphere of the analytic method. 



Hence Professor Conn concludes that there are 

 vital factors and that they are the primal factors in 

 the organism. The mechanical and chemical forces 

 are the secondary factors. It is the primal factors 

 that elude scientific analysis. Why a muscle con- 

 tracts, or why a gland secretes, or " why the oxidation 

 of starch in the living machine gives rise to motion, 

 growth, and reproduction, while if the oxidation oc- 



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