CORRELATION OF VITAL AND PHYSICAL FORCES. 167 



We easily see also why the animal activity of carnivora is greater 

 than that of herbivora, for the amount of force necessary for the as- 

 similation of their albuminoid food is small, and therefore a larger 

 amount is left over for animal activity. Their food is already on plane 

 ~No. 4 ; assimilation, therefore, is little more than a shifting on the 

 plane ~No. 4 from a liquid to a solid condition — from liquid albuminoid 

 of the blood to solid albuminoid of the tissues. 



We see also why the internal activity of plants may conceivably 

 be only of one kind ; for, drawing their force from the sun, tissue- 

 making is not necessarily dependent on tissue-decay. While, on the 

 other hand, the internal activity of animals must be of two kinds, 

 decay and repair ; for animals always draw a portion of their force, 

 and starving animals the whole of their force, from decaying tissue. 



13. There are several general thoughts suggested by this subject, 

 which I wish to present in conclusion : 



a. We have said there are four planes of matter raised one above 

 the other : 1. Elements ; 2. Chemical compounds ; 3. Vegetables ; 4. 

 Animals. Now, there are also four planes of force similarly related 

 to each other, viz., physical force, chemical force, vitality, and will. 



4. Animals. 



3. Plants. 



2. Chemical compounds. 



1. Elements. 



On the first plane of matter operates physical force only ; for chemical 

 force immediately raises matter into the second plane. On the second 

 plane operates, in addition to physical, also chemical force. On the 

 third plane operates, in addition to physical and chemical, also vital 

 force. On the fourth plane, in addition to physical, chemical, and vital, 

 also the force characteristic of animals, viz., will. 1 With each eleva- 

 tion there is a peculiar force added to the already existing, and a pe- 

 culiar group of phenomena is the result. As matter only rises step 

 by step from plane to plane, and never two steps at a time, so also 

 force, in its transformation into higher forms of force, rises only step 

 by step. Physical force does not become vital except through chemi- 

 cal force, and chemical force does not become will except through 

 vital force. 



Again, we have compared the various grades of matter, not to a 

 gradually rising inclined plane, but to successive planes raised one 

 above the other. There are, no doubt, some intermediate conditions ; 

 but, as a broad, general fact, the changes from plane to plane are sud- 

 den. Now, the same is true also of the forces operating on these 

 planes — of the different grades of force, and their corresponding 

 groups of phenomena. The change from one grade to another, as 



1 I might add still another plane and another force, viz., the human plane, on which 

 operate, in addition to all the lower forces, also free-will and reason. I do not speak 

 of these, only because they lie beyond the present ken of inductive science. 



