423 
ORGANIZATION AND LITE. 
From the earliest ages of speculative thought, the human 
mind has occupied itself with the vast and perplexing ques¬ 
tions of organization and life; but notwithstanding centuries of 
experience to show the proper limitations of such an inquiry, 
it is still rare to find a writer or an investigator who will 
adhere to an inductive method, and abstain from mingling 
the guesswork of mere hypothesis with the pursuit of experi¬ 
ment or the elucidation of fact. An inquiry into organization 
necessarily belongs to the domain of physical science, and 
demands physical methods of procedure, which are incapable 
of dealing with elements of a purely metaphysical kind. 
Physical science reveals a wondrous order and harmony of 
forces and arrangements, extending through all the time and 
all the space with which w^e are acquainted; and as our 
minds take cognizance of such facts, we are irresistibly led 
to the contemplation of an intelligent first cause. Let us, 
however, distinctly understand that it is not a mechanical 
process, a chemical process, or a physiological process, that 
conducts us to this result; all that the physical sciences do 
is to give us information, about wLich we cogitate according 
to the laws of thought, and thus arrive at a perception of 
their connection with a class of powers that no physical 
methods can reach. The apparatus of the chemist, the scalpel 
of the anatomist, the microscope of the minute inquirer, or 
the telescope of the astronomer, cannot be employed without 
displaying to us the results of will, intelligence, and design ; 
and yet it cannot be said that it is through them that we 
learn the primary truth concerning the source and origin of 
all the phenomena which nature presents. An inquiry into 
life requires the combinations of physical and metaphysical 
methods, because under the term life we include things which 
differ as widely as human emotion and the development of 
an egg. We say life is one, and we say nature is one, but 
we do not mean to assert that there is no difference between 
a granitic mountain and a shooting star, nor ought we to 
forget the distinction that separates the function of diges¬ 
tion from an impulse of the mind. To call life a principle is 
to place ourselves on the highroad to confusion, because we 
start with a definition which assumes a knowledge that we do 
not possess; and we moreover jumble together a variety of 
causes and effects. 
A principle means a heginningoi some kind. The principles 
