LIFE AND CHANCE 
as we choose to regard it — chance as being void of 
thought or purpose and fate as being in the grip of 
immutable laws. 
The law of chance and of probability is competent 
to account for all the particular forms which bodies 
assume in inorganic nature — a natural bridge, a 
profile in the rocks, obelisks, architectural forms, 
brought out by erosion, etc.; but can it account 
for the forms of living things? The forms of living 
things are purposeful; the forms of non-living things 
serve no purpose, there is no particular end to be 
served by them. The forms of crystals are not hap- 
hazard, they are predetermined, and yet they serve 
no purpose. The exquisite and mathematical forms 
of the snowflakes serve no purpose; such things are 
the result of a particular activity in matter, and 
seem in some way to bridge the gulf between the 
organic and the inorganic. Chemical activity fore- 
shadows vital activity, and is the parent of it. 
Though life arises out of chemical reactions, yet a 
philosophy of life expressed in terms of chemical 
reactions is barren or unsatisfactory. 
Can the ocean tides be defined and accounted for 
in terms of the mobility of water? The water in the 
pond has the same mobility, but it has no tide. 
To account for the tides we must look beyond the 
mere fluidity of water, though without this fluidity 
there would be no tides. No more can life be de- 
fined and accounted for in terms of its chemical and 
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