26 LIFE: ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE 
displaced by some external energy outside it¬ 
self. Whenever matter moves, we are ac¬ 
customed to think of it as alive. This habit of 
mind has, of course, sprung from a very 
primitive belief that “spirits’” were behind all 
the phenomena of nature, and that whatever 
happened was due to the intelligent action of 
these spirits. We still have traces of these 
primitive ideas, and we sometimes endow with 
a certain degree of personality dead matter, 
which does not appear to behave as we think 
it should. Thus, we frequently swear at and 
kick a chair or a cushion over which we have 
stumbled, as though it were an intelligent 
being; and a horse will shy at a piece of paper 
blown along the road. These animistic actions 
show us the primitive origin of our belief that 
living matter—and living matter only—is that 
which moves by reason of some internal and 
mysterious energy which actuates it from 
within. 
These manifestations of life are very marked 
in the living, human body. Its internal func¬ 
tions and activities are all dynamic. Muscular 
activity of all kinds is, of course, an active 
manifestation of life-energy. Even the pro¬ 
cesses of thought involve the idea of movement; 
and we know that Bergson has emphasized the 
idea that life is a jconstant “flow” and an inces¬ 
sant activity. Huxley has also compared life 
to a swirling and flowing river. 
These periods of active expression alternate, 
however, with periods of relative quiet, during 
wlrich the activities of life are not outwardly 
manifest. Thus, during sleep, when the body 
