/ 



if^tead r, ■■ 



IS indicat 



M 



IS an iofr 

 ^^ipation ot 



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^s from IE' 

 ^finite cok- ' 

 :he retaiQei 



.1 motiooia, 



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s tlie p 

 ; occurred 



nents whic 



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'hilst m*; 





-ontains 



le 



place 



c 



3 



in 



f 



)0 



du ?■ 



t:^? beginnings of life. 



123 



redistributions can still 

 easily j and in which, 



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be made, though much less 



being changeable less easily, 

 they have a certain persistence — a persistence which 

 can, however, become decided only where further 

 solidification stops further redistribution/ 



Now molecular motion is locked up in living matter 



r 

 4 



in various ways. . In addition to the fact of its semi- 

 fluid consistence, it contains chemical combinations 

 which even surpass those of the colloid molecule in 

 intrinsic mobility. Three out of its four principal 

 ultimate constituents are mobile gases ; whilst it is a 

 peculiarity of one of them, nitrogen, that instead of 

 giving out heat when it combines with other elements, 



L 



it absorbs heat, so that ^ besides carrying with it into 

 the liquid or solid compound it forms, the motion 

 which previously constituted it a gas^ it takes up 

 additional motion.' 



Thus the form of matter which above all others 

 would seem to possess the necessary requisites for the 

 abundant occurrence of secondary redistributions, is 

 living matter — in which there is embodied an enor- 

 mous amount of potential and actual motion, whilst it, 

 at the same time, possesses a degree of cohesion that 

 permits temporary fixity of arrangement. 



And accordingly, as Mr. Spencer says, ^The clearest, 

 most numerous, and most varied illustrations of the 

 advance in multiformity that accompanies the advance 

 in integration, are furnished by living organic bodies.' 

 He then adds: — ^Distinguished as we found these to 



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V 



