458 Don Enrique Serrano y Fatigati on Points 



Natural existence, being subordinate to absolute unity, pre- 

 sents two distinct modifications : one is existence out of time, 

 and so far eternal ; the other, the temporal and transitory. 

 The union of these two constitutes life, which is the manifes- 

 tation of the infinite in time. Nature in her pure unity is 

 indeterminate, simply indicating potentiality. But she un- 

 dergoes a nisus after development, and then presents us with 

 infinitely varied modes. These three logical moments are realized 

 at one and the same time, nature being simultaneously and 

 eternally one, varied, and entire ; the process of this evolution 

 is the process of life. The realization of such a process re- 

 quires an essential unity — an infinite variety of states, and an 

 intimate dependence and relation between the units and their 

 sum. Thus, while each individual has a separate existence, 

 the whole is not made up by mere juxtaposition of parts. This 

 idea of tri-momental evolution agrees with actual observation ; 

 we shall find it in the birth, process, and extinction of any 

 genus, species, or individual, whether we refer to ordinary 

 living beings or the more distant substance of the stars. In 

 the midst of all these changes, whether of person or of system, 

 each man recognizes his own permanent and continuous unity, 

 and thence observes the systemic unity. 



Each individual — whether star, plant, animal, or man — is 

 modelled on the infinite variety of nature, as well as on her 

 unity. Whithersoever we look — be it to the sun for heat and 

 light, or to any of the celestial bodies for what we term gra- 

 vitation — we meet with forces derived from individual functions 

 of various kinds. Ascending higher, we see clearly that such 

 forces are not distinct, and independent of the one activity 

 of nature, that their ordinary laws are but laws of mode with 

 which she invests herself, and that heat, light, gravitation, 

 and the like are general determinations in which she manifests 

 herself. But the sum total of energy in nature remains one 

 and the same. 



The evolution of life and the evolution of natural forces are 

 thus strictly analogous. Whichever be the field surveyed, 

 we always come at last to the activity of nature, in infinitely 

 seriated motion. The branch of human knowledge which 

 studies that activity is the science of energy. 



Energy thus refers to natural activity, whether potential or 

 real. Among the problems connected with it may be men- 

 tioned, Whether the total activity existing in any one system 

 of bodies, or in all nature, remains constant ; Under what 

 conditions it may occur — as in gravitation, heat, light, etc. ; 

 What are the metamorphoses due to such and such conditions 

 of the organic process ; and, a posteriori, How to establish 



