THE BREATH OF LIFE 



by external forces or agents, solar energy in one 

 applied mechanically from without; in the other 

 applied vitally from within; both suffer from the 

 wear and tear of time and from abuse, but one is 

 self-repaired and the other powerless in this re- 

 spect — two machines with the same treatment 

 running the same number of years, but two men 

 with the same treatment running a very unequal 

 number of years. Machines of the same kind differ 

 in durability, men differ in powers of endurance; 

 a man can "screw up his courage," but a machine 

 has no courage to screw up. Science may be unable 

 to see any difference between vital mechanics, vital 

 chemistry, and the enemies and mechanics of in- 

 organic bodies — its analysis reveals no difference; 

 but that there is a difference as between two dif- 

 ferent orders, all men see and feel. 



Science cannot deal with fundamental questions. 

 Only philosophy can do this. Science is only a tool 

 or a key, and it can unlock only certain material 

 problems. It cannot appraise itself. It is not a 

 judge but a witness. Problems of mind, of character, 

 moral, aesthetic, literary, artistic problems, are not 

 its sphere. It counts and weighs and measures and 

 analyzes, it traces relations, but it cannot appraise 

 its own results. Science and religion come in con- 

 flict only when the latter seeks to deal with objec- 

 tive facts, and the former seeks to deal with sub- 

 jective ideas and emotions. On the question of 



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