266 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
To a common-sense view of the case there certainly seems a need 
of an elective power that can reject and take, a power that can 
organize different structures out of the materials assimilated. It 
can scarcely be solely a question of chemical affinity, seeing that 
the chemical composition and powers are said to be the same in 
every case. It is no disregard of Nature to confess that there are 
mysterious powers ; and that, in presence of such a fact as conscious- 
ness, it is possible that there should be more in the world than 
the everlasting dance of mere atoms — that, in fact, there may be 
a nameless unique power, varying in degree in differing forms, 
and standing, in the constitution of the world, midway between 
atomic action and the impenetrable mystery of consciousness. 
Science has not yet solved the inner mysteries even of " Force." 
It only brings us to the border of the unseen region wherein lie 
the secret springs of all visible forms and changes. It is true, 
advantage may be taken of this admission to ascribe vital 
phenomena to the untraceable forces that operate in matter as 
matter, but no such speculation will obtain the sure position of 
a scientific conclusion ; and, as a speculation, it may be, and is, 
invalidated by the presence of facts which a different hypothesis 
may more thoroughly solve. Philosophical unity is certainly 
desirable. Differing physically, forces are made to square with 
the demand for unity in being run up into one force. Philosophical 
unity may perhaps as truly be obtained by the admission of (1) 
primordial physical force, (2) the unique thing implied in conscious- 
ness, and (3) the unique organizer of living matter, and by then 
running these different lines, constituting a varied universe, up 
unto the one Eternal Source. 
But it would not be right to leave this question of Protoplasm 
without a word on the comparison instituted between the forma- 
tion of crystals and living matter. Haeckel has devoted many pages 
to show that as the one is the sole result of mechanical force, 
so the other may be and is ; only the mechanical action, in the 
case of organisms, is hidden under chemical forms. The reasoning- 
is certainly plausible, but those who take another view of Life 
urge such considerations as these. Crystals and living things are 
too wide apart to be compared for the purpose in view. The one 
is simply added to by external contact ; the other turns the 
external matter into its own living nature — mere contact dis- 
appears. The one is a mere aggregation from without, in rigid 
