THE BIOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE. 



THE SCOPE OF BIOLOGY. 



EROM HERBERT SPENCER* S SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY. 



" IN the chapters treating of Organic Matter, 

 the Actions of Forces on it, and its Reactions on 

 Forces, the generalizations reached were these : 

 That organic matter is specially sensitive to surround- 

 ing agencies; that, in consequence of the extreme 

 instability of the compounds it contains, minute 

 disturbances can cause in it large amounts of re-distri- 

 bution; and that, during the fall of its unstably- 

 arranged atoms into stable arrangements, there are 

 given out proportionately large amounts of motion. 

 We saw that organic matter is so constituted that 

 small incident actions are capable of initiating great 

 reactions letting up extensive structural modifica- 

 tions and liberating large quantities of power. 



" In the chapters just concluded the changes of 

 which Life were made up were shown to be so 

 adjusted as to balance outer changes. And the 

 general process of the adjustment we found resolves 

 itself into this ; that if in the environment there are 

 any related actions, A and B, by which the organism 

 is affected, then if A produces in the organism some 

 change a, there follows in the organism some change 



