THE NATURALIST'S VIEW OF LIFE 



the plane of life — the doctrine of Paul carried into 

 the processes of nature. 



The scientific mind sees in nature an infinitely- 

 complex mechanism directed to no special human 

 ends, but working towards universal ends. It sees 

 in the human body an infinite number of cell units 

 building up tissues and organs, — muscles, nerves, 

 bones, cartilage, — a living machine of infinite com- 

 plexity; but what shapes and coordinates the parts, 

 how the cells arose, how consciousness arose, how 

 the mind is related to the body, how or why the 

 body acts as a unit — on these questions science can 

 throw no light. With all its mastery of the laws of 

 heredity, of cytology, and of embryology, it cannot 

 tell why a man is a man, and a dog is a dog. No 

 cell-analysis will give the secret; no chemical conjur- 

 ing with the elements will reveal why in the one 

 case they build up a head of cabbage, and in the 

 other a head of Plato. 



It must be admitted that the scientific conception 

 of the universe robs us of something — it is hard 

 to say just what — that we do not willingly part 

 with; yet who can divest himself of this conception? 

 And the scientific conception of the nature of life, 

 hard and unfamiliar as it may seem in its mere 

 terms, is difficult to get away from. Life must arise 

 through the play and transformations of matter and 

 energy that are taking place all around us; though 

 it seems a long and impossible road from mere chem- 



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