THE BREATH OF LIFE 



equilibrium of death. This is good vitalistic doc- 

 trine, as far as it goes, yet Huxley saw no difference 

 between the matter of life and other matter, except 

 in the manner in which the atoms are aggregated. 

 Probably the only difference between a diamond 

 and a piece of charcoal, or between a pearl and an 

 oyster-shell, is the manner in which the atoms are 

 aggregated; but that the secret of life is in the pe- 

 culiar compounding of the atoms or molecules — a 

 spatial arrangement of them — is a harder proposi- 

 tion. It seems to me also that Haeckel involves 

 himself in obvious contradictions when he ascribes 

 will, sensation, inclination, dislike, though of a low 

 order, to the atoms of matter; in fact, sees them as 

 living beings with souls, and then denies soul, will, 

 power of choice, and the like to their collective 

 unity in the brain of man. 



A philosopher cannot well afford to assume the 

 air of lofty indifference that the poet Whitman does 

 when he asks, "Do I contradict myself? Very well, 

 then, I contradict myself"; but he may take com- 

 fort in the thought that contradictions are often 

 only apparent, and not real, as when two men stand- 

 ing on opposite sides of the earth seem to oppose 

 each other, and yet their heads point to the same 

 heavens, and their feet to the same terrestrial centre. 

 The logic of the earth completely contradicts the 

 ideas we draw from our experience with other 

 globes, both our artificial globes and the globes in 



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