LIFE AND SCIENCE 



tures, they build the body and brain of man. The 

 secret of the activity in matter that we call vital is 

 certainly beyond the power of science to tell us. 

 It is like expecting that the paint and oil used in a 

 great picture must differ from those in a daub. The 

 great artist mixed his paint with brains, and the 

 universal elements in a living body are mixed with 

 something that science cannot disclose. Organic 

 chemistry does not differ intrinsically from inor- 

 ganic; the difference between the two lies in the 

 purposive activity of the elements that build up a 

 living body. 



Or is life, as a New England college professor 

 claims, " an x-entity, additional to matter and en- 

 ergy, but of the same cosmic rank as they," and 

 "manifesting itself to our senses only through its 

 power to keep a certain quantity of matter and 

 energy in the continuous orderly ferment we call 

 life"? 



I recall that Huxley said that there was a third 

 reality in this universe besides matter and energy, 

 and this third reality was consciousness. But neither 

 the "x-entity" of Professor Ganong nor the "con- 

 sciousness" of Huxley can be said to be of the 

 same cosmic rank as matter and energy, because 

 they do not pervade the universe as matter and en- 

 ergy do. These forces abound throughout all space 

 and endure throughout all time, but life and con- 

 sciousness are flitting and uncertain phenomena of 



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