Problems and Concepts of Evolution 6 



BASIS OF CHARACTERS IN NON-LIVING AND LIVING SUBSTANCES. 



Inasmuch as the material elements composing both organic and inorganic 

 matter are the same and exist in both in arrangements of molecules, atoms, or 

 lesser masses, it is the arrangements and reactions of these that must be the 

 basis of investigation and interpretation of organic activities. 



In the physical world any mass has certain properties that are properties of 

 the whole, the product of the immense number of interactions between the 

 component molecules. These properties of the whole express themselves in 

 characters, weight, forms of crystallization, ductility, and so on, yet no physicist 

 has ever thought of removing these from the mass and setting each on the 

 pedestal of a representative particle, or of considering it a lesser entity which 

 helps like the bricks in a wall to build up the structure, but they are considered 

 as being what all of our experiences show them to be, namely, properties of the 

 whole, which may be temporarily or permanently altered, but can not be 

 removed as an entity from the mass. This is the condition in the inorganic, 

 and what possible reason is there for supposing that any different condition 

 exists in the organic? 



I am not at all concerned with the distinctness with which characters may 

 or may not be present in organisms ; these exist and can be experimentally tested 

 and modified, and the same condition exists in the behavior of matter in the 

 domain of physics and chemistry, so that the logical result of the representative 

 particle-unit character conception is the marked admission that the known 

 facts of physics and chemistry are of themselves unable to serve as a basis for 

 the interpretation of the phenomena of living things. I can not form a con- 

 ception of anything existing in the universe which is not physical in first and 

 last analyses, and although with present knowledge there are difficulties, each 

 added bit of information helps us to understand nature. With this outlook, 

 one can not hope to attain ultimate knowledge of the ordering of living material 

 in nature ; there may always be an uninterpreted residue of observed conditions. 

 This, however, is constantly diminishing, and behind we leave the phenomena 

 of nature interpreted in the store of human knowledge as the results of our 

 collective experience. Each one may have his particular opinion, which may be 

 for him the correct one ; which of the numerous concepts is correct, however, 

 time alone will determine, and, we may rest assured, will determine correctly. 



RELATION OF EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL FACTORS. 



It is undeniable that in organisms there are internal factors which condition 

 and govern the production and manifestation of the bodily qualities, and it is 

 equally certain that there are factors external to the organism in the medium in 

 which it lives, and as far as there is any evidence, this has always been the con- 

 dition in living matter. It is frequently maintained that in the evolution of 

 organisms the factors of importance are entirely internal and all that the 

 external conditions do is to determine which individuals shall live. Others hold 

 that all of the important determining factors in evolution are external and that 

 the living material is a sort of plastic, homogeneous material to be molded by 

 the conditions of existence. 



In the domain of physical science it is recognized that any state or condition 

 in any substance or body is the product of two groups of factors — one resident 



