AND THE LOWER ANIMALS. 123 



present and ever active, controlling the materials 

 borrowed from the external world, arranging them in 

 accordance with a preconceived plan, and rejecting 

 them when they are not longer fit for use. Life, then 

 — the vital vortex — we must regard as the first cause, 

 and as the general process of all the phenomena which 

 we have been describing. 



