JuLT 15, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



91 



they serve a similar purpose. When the causal 

 relations are prominent the analogy with biol- 

 ogy may be close; in other instances the re- 

 senlblance is only formal; the categories or 

 grand divisions become mere abstractions, and 

 the resulting association of facts follows no 

 natural sequence. Philosophers who have 

 sought to frame ultimate classifications have 

 largely neglected to take advantage of the 

 concrete basis of arrangement afforded by the 

 coherence of the biological series. 



To integrate everything to the unity of a 

 single ' substance ' or ' principle ' (monism) 

 is an idealization of mathematical concepts for 

 which no objective reasons have been adduced. 

 Matter, life and person* appear, as yet, to be 

 final categories of phenomena, comprising dif- 

 ferent series of properties and meriting sep- 

 arate vocabularies. The second and third cate- 

 gories are not, it is true, independent of the 

 first or of each other, but no causal nexus has 

 been established. Matter gives us elsewhere 

 no hint of the power of vital coordination, 

 and consciousness is no necessary part or con- 

 sequence of biological evolution. The ma- 

 terialist defines matter so as to include the 

 other categories, while the idealist would an- 

 nex the universe to the realm of thought. 

 From the middle ground of biology it is ap- 

 pai'ent that such assumptions are devoid of 

 practical meaning, in that they correspond to 

 no perception based on objective experience. 

 It is easy to say '' protoplasm is a chemical 

 compound ' or ' matter thinks,' but these 

 integrations are born of the confusion of 

 words rather than of the conception of ascer- 

 tained facts. The chemist will find that pro- 

 toplasm is not a single compound, but an ever- 



* As a designation for the third category of 

 phenomena this term, though open to many ob- 

 jections, seems preferable to consciousness, as 

 being at once more general and more particular. 

 Consciousness is a property of person as inertia 

 is a property of matter and evolution a property 

 of life; in this sense consciousness does not be- 

 come synonymous with intelligence, memory, in- 

 stinct or mere protoplasmic irritability, as some- 

 times implied by Minot and other biological writ- 

 ers. Instincts, and even mental arts, such as 

 language, are attaina.ble without subjective in- 

 telligence or deliberate thought. 



varying infinity of compounds, each capable 

 of work of which ' unorganized ' matter has 

 given no suggestion. Neither is it necessary 

 to confuse deliberate purpose with chemical 

 affinity or physical reaction, in the vain at- 

 tempt at the construction of a specious uni- 

 versal equation. 



Students of nature have labored mightily, 

 and they must also wait patiently. Science 

 is advanced neither by disconnected particu- 

 lars nor by meaningless generalities; all pos- 

 sible associations of facts are to be considered, 

 but essential distinctions must not be neglected 

 and the unlike confused. To recognize bio- 

 logical phenomena as distinct from those of 

 physics does not require belief in an inter- 

 mittent creation or a polytheistic theology, as 

 suggested by Professor Lankester; the diver- 

 sity is not lessened by ascribing it to gradual 

 changes which both the physical conditions 

 and the organisms have experienced ' since 

 life began,' whatever that may mean. And 

 until we know vastly more than we do about 

 life and matter, nothing is to be gained by 

 confusing either the phenomena or the vo- 

 cabularies of biology and physics. Science 

 observes, classifies and interprets facts, with 

 the assistance of language, but neither facts 

 nor words are science by themselves. 



O. F. Cook. 



Washington, D. C. 

 October 16, 1903. 



AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITS AT ST. LOUIS. 

 A PAMPHLET has been issued containing a 

 description of the collective exhibit of the 

 colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts and 

 the agricultural experiment stations of the 

 United States in the Palace of Education at 

 the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The ex- 

 hibit, as the pamphlet explains, is intended 

 to illustrate the progress of education and 

 research in agriculture and the mechanic arts 

 in the United States, showing those distinctive 

 features of the work of the land-grant colleges 

 and experiment stations which differentiate 

 them from other educational and scientific - 

 institutions. It is probably the most com- 

 plete and comprehensive display of its kind 

 that has ever been attempted and is believed 



