18 ORGANIC BEHAVIOUR 
being thus weakened, the antlers are shed ; the scarred surface 
skins over and heals, and only the hair-covered pedicel of the 
antler is left. 
We have no reason to suppose that this corporate cellular 
behaviour, involving the nicely adjusted co-operation of so vast 
an army of organic units, is under the conscious guidance of 
the stag. And yet how orderly the procedure ! how admirable 
_ the result! Nor is there an organ or structural part. of the 
stag or any other animal that does not tell the same tale. 
This is but one paragraph of the volume in which is inscribed 
the varied and wonderful history of organic behaviour in its 
corporate aspect. Is it a matter for wonder that the cause of 
such phenomena has been regarded as “a mystery transcending 
naturalistic conception ; as an alien influx into nature, baffling 
scientific interpretation” ? And yet, though not surprising, 
this attitude of mind, in face of organic phenomena, is illogical, 
and is due partly to a misconception of the function of scientific 
interpretation, partly to influences arising from’ the course 
pursued by the historical development of scientific knowledge. 
The function of biological science is to formulate and to 
express in generalized terms the related antecedences and 
sequences which are observed to occur in animals and plants. 
This can already be done with some approach to precision. 
But the underlying cause of the observed phenomena does not 
fall within the purview of natural science ; it involves meta- 
physical conceptions. It is no more (and no less) a “ mystery ” 
“than all causation in its last resort—as the raison d’étre of 
observed phenomena—is a mystery. Gravitation, chemical 
affinity, crystalline force,—these are all ‘‘ mysteries.” 
If the mystery of life, lying beneath and behind organic 
behaviour, be said to baffle scientific interpretation, this is 
because it suggests ultimate problems with which science as 
such should not attempt to deal. The final causes of vital 
phenomena (as of other phenomena) lie deeper than the probe © 
of science can reach. But why is this sense of mystery 
especially evoked in some minds by the contemplation of 
organic behaviour, by the study of life? Partly, no doubt, 
