128 T. C. CHAM BERLIN 



The wide range of the category thus recognized impHes that the 

 study of the organization of cosmic units is not a theme which falls 

 solely within the province of any one of the natural sciences as we 

 now know them; it is common ground, belonging to each and all in 

 so far as their problems reached back into it. The biologic student 

 of the genesis and career of the iron bacteria may invade, of his 

 own right and to any extent that serves his purpose, the Proterozoic 

 terranes or any other terrestrial field that promises him evidence, 

 and we of the geological school may not say him nay, however much 

 we may claim the province as peculiarly our own in respect to our 

 own problems. Each particular science is best suited to make 

 certain inquiries into the origin of organisms and of organizations, 

 and to yield certain contributions to the common science of cos- 

 mology, using the term in its broadest sense as the science of cosmic 

 organization, in distinction from cosmogony, which in its original 

 sense — the birth of the cosmos — belongs to philosophy, theology, 

 and mythology. 



The cosmic systems mount up by hierarchies from what seem 

 simpler to what seem more complex, but in ultimate analysis all, 

 even the atom, and perhaps even the electron, are themselves 

 complex, and the depth of such complexity is at present unfathom- 

 able. This pervasive complexity puts all in a common class and, 

 in some sense, simplifies the common cosmologic problem, for its 

 essence lies in finding those principles of organization that are so 

 far essential to any organization as to be common to all. 



FUNDAMENTALS OF COSMIC ORGANIZATION 



I. Every cosmic unit bears a dual aspect, a material organiza- 

 tion, and a dynamic organization. In ultimate analysis these 

 may be merely different phases of the same fundamental entity, 

 whatever that may be, but in their sensible aspects they are 

 distinctly diverse. The one is very tangible and impressive and 

 has almost monopolized attention; the other is invisible in itself 

 and has fallen much short of the recognition it deserves as an 

 essential element in every cosmic organization. The first is too 

 familiar to need emphasis here; the second requires all the em- 

 phasis which a neglected essential can well receive. 



