64 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



heat in the universal grave. The smallest thing may initiate the 

 conflagration. 



The phenomenon of growth is not specifically mentioned in 

 the formal statement of the dynamic attitude of the organism. 

 Although it underlies the general attitude of the organism towards 

 energy, it must, from the present point of view, be considered 

 more as a means to an end than as a primary property. The 

 peculiar way in which the organism receives the stimulus of energy 

 is that which appears primarily characteristic of it. We might, 

 for the sake of explicitness, picture some kind of chemical con- 

 figuration which, upon the receipt of energy, would assume such 

 vibratory motions as would lead to combination with sympatheti- 

 cally vibrating molecules, even when these had to be torn by 

 expenditure of energy from a pre-existing chemical union. And 

 in this way, as energy is poured into the configuration, fresh 

 power of aggregating other atoms would be conferred, that is, 

 growth would ensue. 



Thus it is to the attitude assumed by the characteristic molecu- 

 lar configuration upon an accession of energy that growth is to be 

 ascribed : as this growth is on the lines of the original configu- 

 ration, an increase of receptivity by the organism is the result; 

 or, finally, it absorbs energy progressively. 



It is necessary to observe on the fundamental distinction 

 between the growth of the protoplasm and the growth of the 

 crystal. It is common to draw comparison between the two, and 

 to point to metabolism as the chief distinction. But while this is 

 the most obvious distinction the more fundamental one remains in 

 the energy relations of the two with the environment. The growth 

 of the crystal is the result of loss of energy ; that of the organism 

 the result of gain of energy. The crystal represents a last position 

 of stable equilibrium assumed by molecules upon a certain loss of 

 kinetic energy, and the formation of the crystal by evaporation 

 and concentration of a liquid does not, in its dynamic aspect, 

 differ much from the precipitation of an amorphous sediment.^ 

 The organism, on the other hand, represents a more or less 

 unstable condition formed and maintained by inflow of energy; 



1 It appears exceptional for the crystal to stand Mgher in the scale of energy than 

 even the amorphous form. Sulphur is such an exceptional case. 



