CHAPTER XIII 



LIFE 



What is life ? That is the question of questions. 

 Is life a form of energy quite distinct from those 

 forms of energy we see in chemical mixtures, in 

 heat, and electricity, or is it simply a particular 

 manifestation of these energies ? Is the distinction 

 between the living and the dead a real or only an 

 apparent difference ? 



In early times, as we have seen, the distinction 

 was not nearly so firmly drawn, and in all times 

 there has been an instinct to attribute to matter some 

 sort of life or sensation. The atoms of Lucretius 

 had " free-will " ; the monads of Leibnitz had 

 perception and apperception. To Schopenhauer 

 matter was will made perceptible and visible. 

 Haeckel endowed his atoms with sensation and 

 will, and W. K. Clifford considered them bits of 

 mind-stuff. 



What are the meaning of the distinctions drawn 

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