408 



THE AMEBIC AN NATURALIST [Vol. XL VII 



said to happen mainly or only "in the spheres of chem- 

 ical and of aggregative events," 29 these of course com- 

 prising most of what happens within organisms. 



But entelechy is able, so far as we know from the facts concerned in 

 restitution and adaptation, to suspend for as long a period as it wants 

 any one of all the reactions which are possible with such compounds as 

 are present, and which would happen without entelechy. And entelechy 



in another, suspending and permitting possible becoming whenever 

 required for its purposes. 30 



This is the only thing that entelechy can do. 31 

 46. It requires little thought to perceive how power- 

 ful such an agent would be. In a cell containing chem- 

 icals a, b, c, d, etc., all of which tend to interact, it could 

 allow a and c to unite, but prevent a and d, etc. If our 

 four chemicals were H 2 S0 4 , HC1, NaOH and KOH, such 

 an agent could restrain the union of H 2 S0 4 and KOH, 

 and of HC1 and NaOH, permitting the rest; as a result 

 we should get a certain set of compounds. Or, if en- 

 telechy restrained others, we should get a different set 

 of compounds from the same chemicals. If an organism 

 swallowed poison, or if poison were in any way pro- 

 duced within its tissues, this agent could hold back the 

 action of the poison on the tissues, so that the organism 

 would be unharmed, until it had had time to eliminate 

 these poisons through its excretory apparatus. If one 

 of the two cells of an egg contained all the conditions re- 

 quired for producing both the anterior and the posterior 

 part of the body, such an agent could hold back one set 

 of processes and permit the other, thus deciding which 

 part of the body should be produced. Or if the egg con- 

 tained all conditions necessary for producing both a 

 starfish and a sea urchin, such an agent could in this way 

 decide which animal should be produced. If an organ- 

 ism contained the conditions necessary for producing 



"L. c, p. 18]. 

 34 L. c, p. 180. 



