THE BREATH OF LIFE 



or directive in this molecular marriage of the atoms, 

 science does not inquire. Only philosophy can deal 

 with that problem. 



What can science see or find in the brain of man 

 that answers to the soul? Only certain movements 

 of matter in the brain cortex. What difference does 

 it find between inert matter and a living organism? 

 Only a vastly more complex mechanics and chem- 

 istry in the latter. A wide difference, not of kind, 

 but of degree. The something we call vitality, that 

 a child recognizes, science does not find; vitality is 

 something sui generis. Scientific analysis cannot 

 show us the difference between the germ cell of a 

 starfish and the germ cell of a man; and yet think 

 of what a world of difference is hidden in those mi- 

 croscopic germs ! What force is there in inert mat- 

 ter that can build a machine by the adjustment of 

 parts to each other? We can explain the most com- 

 plex chemical compounds by the action of chemical 

 forces and chemical affinity, but they cannot explain 

 that adjustment of parts to each other, the coordina- 

 tion of their activities that makes a living machine. 



In organized matter there is something that or- 

 ganizes. "The cell itself is an organization of 

 smaller units," and to drive or follow the organizing 

 principle into the last hiding-place is past the power 

 of biological chemistry. What constitutes the guid- 

 ing force or principle of a living body, adjusting all 

 its parts, making them pull together, making of the 



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