646 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



interpretations. Now the organism is a machine, and 

 again it is a spirit ; now it is a free agent, and again it is 

 only an automaton ; now engine and again entelechy. 



There are several reasons for this continual see-saw, the 

 chief one being that there is truth on both sides. For the 

 purposes of chemistry and physics the organism may 

 be adequately considered as a material system ; for the 

 purposes of biology another aspect of its reality has to be 

 recognized. 



But another reason is given by Bergson in his theory 

 of the limitation of our intellect. ' The intellect, so skilful 

 in dealing with the inert, is awkward the moment it touches 

 the living '. ' It is characterized by a natural inability 

 to comprehend life '. ' Created by life, in definite circum- 

 stances, to act on definite things, how can it embrace life, 

 of which it is only an emanation or an aspect ? Deposited 

 by the evolutionary movement, in the course of its way, 

 how can it be applied to the evolutionary movement it- 

 self ? ' 'In vain we force the living into this or that one 

 of our intellectual moulds. All the moulds crack.' 



What then can be done ? Some would say, ' Nothing ! 

 Let us cultivate our garden '. Bergson's suggestion is, 

 that our method of pure intellectualism is wrong. The 

 line of evolution that ends in human intelligence is not 

 the only one. Other forms of consciousness, such as 

 instinct, ' express something that is immanent and essential 

 in the evolutionary movement. Have we not powers 

 complementary to the understanding by which we may 

 get a vision a fleeting vision of what life essentially is ' ? 

 We have a fringe of instinct. 



Some of the tough-minded, or we ourselves in tough- 

 minded moods, are apt to depreciate that ' fringe of vague 



