118 INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE 



form, or should form, one body of truth, and they 

 gain in value the more they are correlated. This 

 is the ideal alike of the Philosopher's Stone, of 

 the Encyclopaedia, of the University, and of the 

 most modern scientific synthesis. Let us briefly 

 consider it from various points of view. 



When we think of a living creature with vivid- 

 ness, several major impressions stand out clearly 

 in the mind. In the first place, the organism is a 

 unity. It has many members, but one body; 

 many activities, but one life. It develops and 

 grows and varies and acts as a unity. Therefore, 

 we feel sure that while it has to be made the sub- 

 ject of many different sciences, anatomy, physi- 

 ology, embryology, not to speak of chemistry 

 and physics, and not forgetting psychology, the 

 scientific truth about the living creature cannot 

 be reached unless the results of the various 

 scientific inquiries are pooled, and unless the 

 fundamental fact of the unity of the organism 

 is recognized. 



In the second place, the living creature cannot 

 be isolated or studied in vacuo. It has an inani- 

 mate environment from which it is scientifically 

 inseparable, and it sends its tendrils into the 

 lives of many other creatures. If we are to come 

 nearer knowing the truth about the living creature, 

 we must study it in its inter-relations. But that 

 involves the convergence of many sciences, which 



