2. On this ground, if on this alone, an acquaintance with the general principles of structure and function is indispensable to the psychologist; although only of late years has this been fully5 recognized, so that men profoundly ignorant of the organism have had no hesitation6 in theorizing on its highest functions. In saying that such knowledge is indispensable, I do not mean that in the absence of such knowledge a man is debarred from understanding much of the results reached by investigators,4 nor that he may not himself make useful observations and classifications of psychological facts. It is possible to read books on Natural History with intelligence and profit, and even to make good observations, without a scientific groundwork of biological instruction; and it is possible to arrive at empirical facts of hygiene7 and medical treatment without any physiological8 instruction. But in all three cases the absence of a scientific basis will render the knowledge fragmentary and incomplete; and this ought to deter9 every one from offering an opinion on debatable questions which pass beyond the limit of subjective observations. The psychologist who has not prepared himself by a study of the organism has no more right to be heard on the genesis of the psychical10 states, or of the relations between body and mind, than one of the laity11 has a right to be heard on a question of medical treatment.
THE POSITION OF BIOLOGY.
3. Science is the systematic12 classification of Experience. It postulates13 unity15 of Existence with great varieties in the Modes of Existence; assuming that there is one Matter everywhere the same, under great diversities in the complications of its elements. The distinction of Modes is not less indispensable than the identification of the elements. These Modes range themselves under three supreme16 heads: Force, Life, Mind. Under the first, range the general properties exhibited by all substances; under the second, the general properties exhibited by organized substances; under the third, the general properties exhibited by organized animal substances. The first class is subdivided17 into Physics, celestial18 and terrestrial, and Chemistry. Physics treats of substances which move as masses, or which vibrate and rotate as molecules19, without undergoing any appreciable20 change of structural21 integrity;5 they show changes of position and state, without corresponding changes in their elements. Chemistry treats of substances which undergo molecular22 changes of composition destructive of their integrity. Thus the blow which simply moves one body, or makes it vibrate, explodes another. The friction23 which alters the temperature and electrical state of a bit of glass, ignites a bit of phosphorus, and so destroys its integrity of structure, converting phosphorus into phosphoric acid.
4. The second class, while exhibiting both physical and chemical properties, is markedly distinguished24 by the addition of properties called vital. Their peculiarity26 consists in this: they undergo molecular changes of composition and decomposition27 which are simultaneous, and by this simultaneity preserve their integrity of structure. They change their state, and their elements, yet preserve their unity, and even when differentiating28 continue specific. Unlike all other bodies, the organized are born, grow, develop, and decay, through a prescribed series of graduated evolutions, each stage being the indispensable condition of its successor, no stage ever appearing except in its serial29 order.
5. The third class, while exhibiting all the characteristics of the two preceding classes, is specialized30 by the addition of a totally new property, called Sensibility, which subjectively31 is Feeling. Here organized substance has become animal substance, and Vegetality has been developed into Animality by the addition of new factors,—new complexities32 of the elementary forces. Many, if not most, philosophers postulate14 an entirely33 new Existence, and not simply a new Mode, to account for the manifestations34 of Mind; they refuse to acknowledge it to be a vital manifestation35, they demand that to Life be added a separate substratum, the Soul. This is not a point to be discussed here. We may be content with the6 assertion that however great the phenomenal difference between Humanity and Animality (a difference we shall hereafter see to be the expression of a new factor, namely, the social factor), nevertheless the distinctive36 attribute of Sensibility, out of which rise Emotion and Cognition, marks the inseparable kinship of mental with vital phenomena.
Thus all the various Modes of Existence may, at least in their objective aspect, be ranged under the two divisions of Inorganic37 and Organic,—Non-living and Living,—and these are respectively the objects of the cosmological and the biological sciences.
6. The various sciences in their serial development develop the whole art of Method. Mathematics develops abstraction, deduction38, and definition; Astronomy abstraction, deduction, and observation; Physics adds experiment; Chemistry adds nomenclature; Biology adds classification, and for the first time brings into prominence39 the important notion of conditions of existence, and the variation of phenomena under varying conditions: so that the relation of the organism to its medium is one never to be left out of sight. In Biology also clearly emerges for the first time what I regard as the true notion of causality, namely, the procession of causes,—the combination of factors in the product, and not an ab extra determination of the product. In Vitality41 and Sensibility we are made aware that the causes are in and not outside the organism; that the organic effect is the organic cause in operation; that there is autonomy but no autocracy42; the effect issues as a resultant of the co-operating conditions. In Sociology, finally, we see brought into prominence the historical conditions of existence. From the due appreciation43 of the conditions of existence, material and historical, we seize the true significance of the principle of Relativity.
7 7. Having thus indicated the series of the abstract sciences we have now to consider more closely the character of Biology. The term was proposed independently yet simultaneously44 in Germany and France, in the year 1802, by Treviranus and Lamarck, to express “the study of the forms and phenomena of Life, the conditions and laws by which these exist, and the causes which produce them.” Yet only of late years has it gained general acceptance in France and England. The term Cosmology, for what are usually called the Physical Sciences, has not yet come into general use, although its appropriateness must eventually secure its recognition.
Biology,—the abstract science of Life,—embracing the whole organic world, includes Vegetality, Animality, and Humanity; the biological sciences are Phytology, Zo?logy, and Anthropology45. Each of the sciences has its cardinal46 divisions, statical and dynamical, namely, Morphology—the science of form,—and Physiology47—the science of function.
Morphology embraces—1°, Anatomy48, i. e. the description of the parts then and there present in the organism; and these parts, or organs, are further described by the enumeration49 of their constituent50 tissues and elements; and of these again the proximate principles, so far as they can be isolated51 without chemical decomposition. 2°, Organogeny, i. e. the history of the evolution of organs and tissues.
Physiology embraces the properties and functions of the tissues and organs—the primary conditions of Growth and Development out of which rise the higher functions bringing the organism into active relation with the surrounding medium. The first group of properties and functions are called those of vegetal, or organic life; the second those of animal, or relative life.
8
ORGANISMS.
8. It will be needful to fix with precision the terms, Organism, Life, Property, and Function.
An organism, although usually signifying a more or less complex unity of organs, because the structures which first attracted scientific attention were all thus markedly distinguished from inorganic bodies, has by the gradual extensions of research been necessarily generalized, till it now stands for any organized substance capable of independent vitality: in other words, any substance having the specific combination of elements which manifests the serial phenomena of growth, development, and decay. There are organisms that have no differentiated52 organs. Thus a microscopic53 formless lump of semifluid jelly-like substance (Protoplasm) is called an organism, because it feeds itself, and reproduces itself. There are advantages and disadvantages in such extensions of terms. These are notable in the parallel extension of the term Life, which originally expressing only the complex activities of complex organisms, has come to express the simplest activities of protoplasm. Thus a Monad is an organism; a Cell is an organism; a Plant is an organism; a Man is an organism. And each of these organisms is said to have its Life, because
Up from the creeping worm to sovereign man”1
there is one fundamental group of conditions, one organized substance, one vitality.
Obviously this unity is an abstraction. In reality, the life manifested in the Man is not the life manifested in the Monad: he has Functions and Faculties56 which the Monad has no trace of; and if the two organisms have certain vital characteristics in common, this unity is only9 recognized in an ideal construction which lets drop all concrete differences. The Life is different when the organism is different. Hence any definition of Life would be manifestly insufficient57 which while it expressed the activities of the Monad left unexpressed the conspicuous58 and important activities of higher organisms. A sundial and a repeater will each record the successive positions of the sun in the heavens; but although both are instruments for marking time, the sundial will not do the work of the repeater; the complexity59 and delicacy60 of the watch mechanism61 are necessary for its more varied62 and delicate uses. A semifluid bit of protoplasm will feed itself; but it will not feed and sustain a complex animal; nor will it feel and think.
9. Neglect of this point has caused frequent confusion in the attempts to give satisfactory definitions. Biologists ought to have been warned by the fact that some of the most widely accepted definitions exclude the most conspicuous phenomena of Life, and are only applicable to the vegetable world, or to the vegetal processes in the animal world. A definition, however abstract, should not exclude essential characters. The general consent of mankind has made Life synonymous with Mode of Existence. By the life of an animal is meant the existence of that animal; when dead the animal no longer exists; the substances of which the organism was composed exist, but under another mode; their connexus is altered, and the organism vanishes in the alteration63. It is a serious mistake to call the corpse64 an organism; for that special combination which constituted the organism is not present in the corpse. This misconception misleads some speculative65 minds into assigning life to the universe. The universe assuredly exists, but it does not live; its existence can only be identified with life, such as we observe in organisms, by a complete obliteration66 of the speciality which the term10 Life is meant to designate. Yet many have not only pleased themselves with such a conception, but have conceived the universe to be an organism fashioned, directed, and sustained by a soul like that of man—the anima mundi. This is to violate all scientific canons. The life of a plant-organism is not the same as the life of an animal-organism; the life of an animal-organism is not the same as the life of a human-organism; nor can the life of a human-organism be the same as the life of the world-organism. The unity of Existences does not obliterate67 the variety of Modes; yet it is the speciality of each Mode which Science investigates; to some of these Modes the term Life is consistently applied68, to others not; and if we merge40 them all in a common term, we must then invent a new term to designate the Modes now included under Life.
10. In resisting this unwarrantable extension of the term I am not only pointing to a speculative error, but also to a serious biological error common in both spiritualist and materialist69 schools, namely that of assigning Life to other than organic agencies. Instead of recognizing the speciality of this Mode of Existence as dependent on a speciality of the organic conditions, the spiritualist assigns Life to some extra-organic Vital Principle, the materialist assigns it to some inorganic agent—physical or chemical. Waiving70 for the present all discussion of Vitalism, let us consider in what sense we must separate organic from all inorganic phenomena.
11. There is a distinction between inorganic and organic which may fitly be called radical71: it lies at the root of the phenomena, and must be accepted as an ultimate fact, although the synthesis on which it depends is analytically73 reducible to a complication of more primitive74 conditions. It has been already indicated in § 5. All organisms above the very simplest are syntheses Of three terms: Structure,11 Aliment, and Instrument. Crystals, like all other anorganisms have structure, and in a certain sense they may be said to grow (Mineralia crescunt), though the growth is by increase and not by modification:2 the motherlye, which is the food of the crystal, is never brought to the crystal, nor prepared for it, by any instrumental agency of the crystal. Organisms are exclusively instrumental; the organ is an instrument. The structural integrity of an organism is thus preserved through an alimentation which is effected through special instruments. Nothing like this is visible in anorganisms.
The increase of a crystal is further distinguishable from the growth of an organism, in the fact Of its being simple accretion75 without development; and the structure of the crystal is distinguishable from that of an organism in the fact that its integrity is preserved by the exclusion76 of all molecular change, and not by the simultaneous changes of molecular decomposition and recomposition. Inorganic substances are sometimes as unstable77 as organic, sometimes even more unstable; but their instability is the source of their structural destruction—they change into other species; whereas the instability of organized substances (not of organic) is the source of their structural integrity: the tissue is renovated78, and its renovation79 is a consequence of its waste.
12. But while the distinction is thus radical, when we view the organism from the real—that is, from the synthetic80 point of view—we must also urge the validity of12 the analytical72 point of view, which seizes on the conditions here complicated in a special group, and declares these conditions to be severally recognizable equally in anorganisms and in organisms. All the fundamental properties of Matter are recognizable in organized Matter. The elementary substances and forces familiar to physicists81 and chemists are the materials of the biologist; nor has there been found a single organic substance, however special, that is not reducible to inorganic elements. We see, then, that organized Matter is only a special combination of that which in other combinations presents chemical and physical phenomena; and we are prepared to find Chemistry and Physics indispensable aids in our analysis of organic phenomena. Aids, but only aids; indispensable, but insufficient.
13. There is therefore an ambiguity82 in the common statement that organized matter is not ordinary matter. Indisputable in one sense, this is eminently83 disputable when it is interpreted as evidence of a peculiar25 Vital Force “wholly unallied with the primary energy of Motion.” If by “ordinary matter” be meant earths, crystals, gases, vapors84, then assuredly organized matter is not ordinary. “Between the living state of matter and its non-living state,” says Dr. Beale, “there is an absolute and irreconcilable85 difference; so far from our being able to demonstrate that the non-living passes by gradations into or gradually assumes the scale or condition of the living, the transition is sudden and abrupt86, and matter already in the living state may pass into the non-living condition in the same sudden and complete manner.”3 The ambiguity here is sensible in the parallel case of the difference between crystallizable and coagulable matter, or between one crystal and another. If we can decompose87 the organic into13 the inorganic, this shows that the elements of the one are elements of the other; and if we are not yet able to recompose the inorganic elements into organic matter (not at least in its more complex forms), may this not be due to the fact that we are ignorant of the proximate synthesis, ignorant of the precise way in which the elements are combined? I may have every individual part of a machine before me, but unless I know the proper position of each, I cannot with the parts reconstruct the machine. Indeed the very common argument on which so much stress is laid in favor of some mysterious Principle as the source of organic phenomena, namely, that human skill is hopelessly baffled in the attempt to make organic substances, still more a living cell, is futile88. Men can make machines, it is said, but not organisms, ergo organisms must have a spiritual origin. But the fact is that no man can make a machine, unless he take advantage of the immense traditions of our race, and apply the skill of millions who have worked and thought before him, slowly and tentatively discovering the necessary means of mechanical effect. The greatest thinker, or the deepest scholar, who did not place himself in the line of the tradition, and learn the principles of mechanism, and the properties of the materials, would be as incapable89 of making a watch, as the physiologist90 now is of making a cell. But the skill of man has already succeeded in making many organic substances, and will perhaps eventually succeed in making a cell, certainly will, if ever the special synthesis which binds91 the elements together should be discovered. Not that such a discovery would alter the position of Biology in relation to Chemistry. The making of albumen, nay92, the construction of an organism in the laboratory, would not in the least affect the foundation of Biology, would not obliterate the radical difference between organisms and anorganisms. It is the speciality of14 organic phenomena which gives them a special place, although the speciality may only be due to a complication of general agencies.
VITAL FORCE.
14. A similar ambiguity to that of the phrase “ordinary matter” lies in the equally common phrase “Vital Force,” which is used to designate a special group of agencies, and is then made to designate an agent which has no kinship with the general group; that is to say, instead of being employed in its real signification—that which alone represents our knowledge—as the abstract statical expression of the complex conditions necessary to the manifestation of vital phenomena, or as the abstract dynamical expression of the phenomena themselves, it is employed as an expression of their unknown Cause, which, because unknown, is dissociated from the known conditions, and erected94 into a mysterious Principle, having no kinship with Matter. In the first sense the term is a shorthand symbol of what is known and inferred. The known conditions are the relations of an organism and its medium, the organism being the union of various substances all of which have their peculiar properties when isolated; properties that disappear in the union, and are replaced by others, which result from the combination—as the properties of chlorine and sodium95 all disappear in the sea-salt which results from their union; or as the properties of oxygen and the properties of hydrogen disappear and are replaced by the properties of water. When therefore Vital Force is said to be exalted96 or depressed97, the phrase has rational interpretation98 in the alteration which has taken place in one or more of the conditions, internal and external: a change in the tissues, the plasma99, or the environment, exalts100 or depresses the energy of the vital manifestations; and to suppose that this is effected15 through the agency of some extra-organic Principle is a purely101 gratuitous102 fiction.
15. That we are ignorant of one or more of the indispensable conditions symbolized103 in the abstract term Vitality or Vital Force, is no reason for quitting the secure though difficult path of Observation, and rushing into the facile but delusive104 path of Fiction, which proposes metempirical Agents (in the shape of Vital and Psychical Principles) to solve the problems of Life and Mind. We may employ the term Vital Force to label our observations, together with all that still remains105 unobserved; and we are bound to recognize the line which separates observation from inference, what is proved from what is inferred; but while marking the limits of the known, we are not to displace the known in favor of the unknown. It is said that because of our ignorance we must assume these causes of Life and Mind to be unallied with known material causes, and belonging to a different order of existences. This is to convert ignorance into a proof; and not only so, but to allow what we do not know to displace what we do know. The organicist is ready to admit that much has still to be discovered; the vitalist, taking his stand upon this unknown, denies that what has been discovered is really important, and declares that the real agent is wholly unallied to it. How can he know this?
He does not know it; he assumes it; and the chief evidence he adduces is that the ordinary laws of inorganic matter are incapable of explaining the phenomena of organized matter; and that physical and chemical forces are controlled by vital force. I accept both these positions, stripping them, however, of their ambiguities106. The laws of ordinary matter are clearly incompetent107 in the case of matter which is not ordinary, but specialized in organisms; and when we come to treat of Materialism108 we shall see how unscientific have been the hypotheses which disregard16 the distinction. The question of control is too interesting and important to be passed over here.
VITAL FORCE CONTROLLING PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL FORCES.
16. The facts relied on by the vitalists are facts which every organicist will emphasize, though he will interpret them differently. When, for example, it is said that “Life resists the effect of mechanical friction,” and the proof adduced is the fact that the friction which will thin and wear away a dead body is actually the cause of the thickening of a living—the skin of a laborer’s hand being thickened by his labor93; the explanation is not that Life, an extra-organic agent, “resists mechanical friction”—for the mechanical effect is not resisted (the skin is rubbed off the rower’s hand sooner than the wood is rubbed off the oar)—but that Life, i. e. organic activity repairs the waste of tissue.
17. Again, although many of the physical and chemical processes which invariably take place under the influences to which the substances are subjected out of the organism, will not take place at all, or will take place in different degrees, when the substances are in the organism, this is important as an argument against the notion of vital phenomena being deducible from physical and chemical laws, but is valueless as evidence in favor of an extra-organic agent. Let us glance at one or two striking examples.
18. No experimental inquirer can have failed to observe the often contradictory109 results which seemingly unimportant variations in the conditions bring about; no one can have failed to observe what are called chemical affinities110 wholly frustrated111 by vital conditions. Even the ordinary laws of Diffusion112 are not always followed in the organism. The Am?ba, though semifluid, resists diffusion when alive; but when it dies it swells113 and bursts by osmosis. The17 exchange of gases does not take place in the tissues, precisely114 as in our retorts. The living muscle respires, that is, takes up oxygen and gives out carbonic acid, not on the principle of simple diffusion, but by two separable physiological processes. The carbonic acid is given out, even when there is no oxygen whatever present in the atmosphere, and its place may then be supplied by hydrogen; and this physiological process is so different from the physical process which goes on in the dead muscle (the result of putrefaction115), that it has been proved by Ranke to go on when the temperature is so low that all putrefaction is arrested. The same experimenter finds4 that whereas living nerve will take up, by imbibition116, 10 per cent of potash salts, it will not take up 1 per cent of soda117 salts, presented in equal concentration; and he points to the general fact that the absorption of inorganic substances does not take place according to the simple laws of diffusion, but that living tissues have special laws, the nerve, for instance, having a greater affinity118 for neutral potash salts than for neutral soda salts. Let me add, by way of anticipating the probable argument that may urge this in favor of Vital Principle which is lightly credited with the prescience of final causes, that so far from this “elective affinity” of the tissues being intelligent and always favorable, Ranke’s experiments unequivocally show that it is more active towards destructive, poisonous substances, than towards the reparative, alimentary119 substances; which is indeed consistent with the familiar experience that poisons are more readily absorbed than foods, when both are brought to the tissues. Thus it is well known that of all the salts the sulphate of copper120 is that which plants most readily absorb—and it kills them. The special affinities disappear as the vitality disappears, and dying plants absorb all salts equally.
18 19. The more the organism is studied, the more evident it will become that the simple laws of diffusion, as presented in anorganisms rarely if ever take effect in tissues; in other words, what is called Imbibition in Physics is the somewhat different process of Absorption in Physiology.5 The difference is notable in this capital fact, that whereas the physical diffusion of liquids and gases is determined121 by differences of density122, the physiological absorption of liquids and gases is determined by the molecular organization of the tissue, which is perfectly123 indifferent to, and resists the entrance of, all substances incapable of entering into organic combination, either as aliment or poison. A curious example of the indifference124 of organized substances to some external influences and their reaction upon others, is the impossibility of provoking ciliary movement in an epithelial cell, during repose125, by any electrical, mechanical, or chemical stimuli126 except potash and soda. Virchow discovered that a minute quantity of either of these, added to the water in which the cell floated, at once called forth127 the ciliary movements.
20. The true meaning of the resistance of Vitality to ordinary chemical affinity is, that the conditions involved in the phenomena of Vitality are not the conditions involved in the phenomena of Chemistry; in other words, that in the living organism the substances are placed under conditions different from those in which we observe these substances when their chemical affinities are displayed in anorganisms. But we need not go beyond the laboratory to see abundant examples of this so-called resistance to chemical affinity, when the conditions are altered. The decomposition of carbonates by tartaric acid is a chemical process which is wholly resisted if alcohol19 instead of water be the solvent128 employed. The union of sulphur with lead is said to be due to the affinity of the one for the other; but no one supposes this affinity to be irrespective of conditions, or that the union will take place when any one of these conditions is absent. If we fuse a compound of lead and iron in a crucible129 containing sulphur, we find it is the iron, and not the lead, which unites with the sulphur; yet we do not conclude that there is a Crucible Principle which frustrates130 chemical affinity and resists the union of sulphur and lead; we simply conclude that the presence of the iron is a condition which prevents the combination of the sulphur with the lead: not until all the iron has taken up its definite proportion of sulphur will the affinity of the lead come into play. This is but another illustration of the law that effects are processions of their causes, summations131 of the conditions of their existence. If the fire burns no hole in the teakettle so long as there is water to conduct the heat away, this is not due to any principle more mysterious than the presence of a readily conducting water.6
20 21. In accordance with the law of Causation just mentioned, which has been expounded132 in detail in our First Series (Vol. II. p. 335), the special combinations of Matter in organisms must present special phenomena. Therefore since the province of Biology is that of explaining organic phenomena by means of their organic conditions, it must be radically133 distinguished from the provinces of Physics and Chemistry, which treat not of organized but of inorganic matter. It is idle, it is worse, for it is misleading, to personify the organic conditions, known and inferred, in a Vital Principle; idle, because we might with equal propriety134 personify the conditions of crystallization in a Crystal Principle; misleading, because the artifice135 is quickly dropped out of sight, and the abstract term then becomes accepted as an entity136, supposed to create or rule the phenomena it was invented to express.
22. Inquirers are but too apt to misconceive the value of Analysis, which is an artifice of Method indispensable to research, though needing the complementary rectification137 by Synthesis before a real explanation can be reached. Analysis decomposes138 the actual fact into ideal factors, separates the group into its components139, and considers each of these, not as it exists in the group, in the reality, but as it exists when theoretically detached from the others. The oxygen and hydrogen into which water is decomposed140 did not exist as these gases in the water; the albumen and phosphate we extract from a nerve did not exist as isolated albumen and phosphate in the nerve, they were molecularly141 combined. In like manner the physical and chemical processes which may analytically be inferred in vital processes do not really take place in the same way as out of the organism. The real process is always a vital process, and must be explained by the synthesis of all the co-operant conditions. The laws of Physics and Chemistry formulate142 abstract expressions of phenomena, wherever21 and whenever these appear, without reference to the modes of production; and in this sense the movement of a limb is no less a case of Dynamics143 than the movement of a pulley—the decomposition of a tissue is a case of Chemistry no less than the decomposition of a carbonate; the electromotor phenomena observed in muscle are as purely physical as those observed in a telegraph. But when a biologist has to explain the movements of the limbs, or the decompositions of tissues, he has to deal with the phenomena and their modes of production, he has a particular group before him, and must leave out nothing that is characteristic of it. The movements of the pulley do not depend on Contractility and Sensibility, which in turn depend on Nutrition. The decomposition of the carbonate does not depend on conditions resembling those of a living tissue. Vaucanson’s duck was surprisingly like a living duck in many of its movements; but in none of its actions was there any real similarity to the actions of a bird, because the machine was unlike an organism in action. The antithesis144 of mechanism and organism will be treated of in § 78.
23. We conclude, then, that defining physical phenomena as the movements which take place without change of structure, and chemical phenomena as the movements with change of structure, although both classes may be said to take place in the organism, and to be the primary conditions on which organic phenomena depend, they do not embrace the whole of the conditions, nor are the sciences which formulate them capable of formulating145 either the special phenomena characteristic of organisms or their special modes of production. The biologist will employ chemical and physical analysis as an essential part of his method; but he will always rectify146 what is artificial in this procedure, by subordinating the laws of Physics and Chemistry to the laws of Biology revealed in the synthetic22 observation of the organism as a whole. The rectification, here insisted on, will be recognized as peculiarly urgent in Psychology147, which has greatly suffered from the misdirection of Analysis.
24. No one will misunderstand this specialization of Biology to mean a separation of Life from the series of objective phenomena, and the introduction of a new entity; the specialization points to a Mode of Existence. All classifications are artifices148, but they have their objective grounds; the ground of difference on which Biology is separated from Chemistry and Physics, though all three may be merged149 in a common identity, is such as to justify150 the term radical. A vital process is no more to be considered physico-chemical, because physico-chemical conditions are presupposed in it, than a feeling is to be considered a nutritive process, because Nutrition is presupposed in all Feeling. Organic substances have been made by chemists, and inorganic “cells” have also been made; but these substances were not organized, these “cells” would not live. The germ-cell is the workshop of generation, the secreting-cell the workshop of secretion151, the muscle-cell the workshop of contraction152. What is required over and above organic substances and cell-forms, is that special state called organization. See § 49.
Those who contemplate153 the manifestations without also taking into account their modes of production may see nothing but physico-chemical facts in vital facts. It is by a similar limitation of the point of view that Vitality is often confounded with Movement, and portions of organic matter are said to live, simply on the evidence of their movements.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
phenomena
|
|
| n.现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
subjective
|
|
| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
entities
|
|
| 实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
hygiene
|
|
| n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
physiological
|
|
| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
deter
|
|
| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
psychical
|
|
| adj.有关特异功能现象的；有关特异功能官能的；灵魂的；心灵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
laity
|
|
| n.俗人；门外汉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
systematic
|
|
| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
postulates
|
|
| v.假定，假设( postulate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
postulate
|
|
| n.假定，基本条件；vt.要求，假定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
subdivided
|
|
| 再分，细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
celestial
|
|
| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
molecules
|
|
| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
appreciable
|
|
| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
structural
|
|
| adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
molecular
|
|
| adj.分子的；克分子的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
friction
|
|
| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
peculiarity
|
|
| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
decomposition
|
|
| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
differentiating
|
|
| [计] 微分的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
serial
|
|
| n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
specialized
|
|
| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
subjectively
|
|
| 主观地； 臆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
complexities
|
|
| 复杂性(complexity的名词复数)； 复杂的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
manifestations
|
|
| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
manifestation
|
|
| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
distinctive
|
|
| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
inorganic
|
|
| adj.无生物的；无机的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
deduction
|
|
| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
prominence
|
|
| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
merge
|
|
| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
vitality
|
|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
autocracy
|
|
| n.独裁政治，独裁政府 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
appreciation
|
|
| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
simultaneously
|
|
| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
anthropology
|
|
| n.人类学 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
cardinal
|
|
| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
physiology
|
|
| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
anatomy
|
|
| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
enumeration
|
|
| n.计数，列举；细目；详表；点查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
constituent
|
|
| n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
differentiated
|
|
| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
microscopic
|
|
| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
commonwealth
|
|
| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
faculties
|
|
| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
insufficient
|
|
| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
complexity
|
|
| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
mechanism
|
|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
alteration
|
|
| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
speculative
|
|
| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
obliteration
|
|
| n.涂去，删除；管腔闭合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
obliterate
|
|
| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
materialist
|
|
| n. 唯物主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
waiving
|
|
| v.宣布放弃( waive的现在分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
radical
|
|
| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
analytical
|
|
| adj.分析的；用分析法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
analytically
|
|
| adv.有分析地，解析地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
primitive
|
|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
accretion
|
|
| n.自然的增长，增加物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
exclusion
|
|
| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
unstable
|
|
| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
renovated
|
|
| 翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
renovation
|
|
| n.革新，整修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
synthetic
|
|
| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
physicists
|
|
| 物理学家( physicist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
ambiguity
|
|
| n.模棱两可；意义不明确 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
eminently
|
|
| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
vapors
|
|
| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
irreconcilable
|
|
| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
abrupt
|
|
| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
decompose
|
|
| vi.分解；vt.（使）腐败，（使）腐烂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
incapable
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
physiologist
|
|
| n.生理学家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
binds
|
|
| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
sodium
|
|
| n.（化）钠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
exalted
|
|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
interpretation
|
|
| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
plasma
|
|
| n.血浆，细胞质，乳清 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
exalts
|
|
| 赞扬( exalt的第三人称单数 )； 歌颂； 提升； 提拔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
gratuitous
|
|
| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
symbolized
|
|
| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
delusive
|
|
| adj.欺骗的，妄想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
ambiguities
|
|
| n.歧义( ambiguity的名词复数 )；意义不明确；模棱两可的意思；模棱两可的话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
incompetent
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
materialism
|
|
| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
contradictory
|
|
| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
affinities
|
|
| n.密切关系( affinity的名词复数 )；亲近；（生性）喜爱；类同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
frustrated
|
|
| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
diffusion
|
|
| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
swells
|
|
| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
putrefaction
|
|
| n.腐坏，腐败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
imbibition
|
|
| n.吸入，吸取；吸液 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
soda
|
|
| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
affinity
|
|
| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
alimentary
|
|
| adj.饮食的，营养的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
copper
|
|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
density
|
|
| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
repose
|
|
| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
stimuli
|
|
| n.刺激（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
solvent
|
|
| n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
crucible
|
|
| n.坩锅，严酷的考验 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
frustrates
|
|
| v.使不成功( frustrate的第三人称单数 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
summations
|
|
| n.总和( summation的名词复数 )；加在一起；总结；概括 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
expounded
|
|
| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
radically
|
|
| ad.根本地，本质地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
propriety
|
|
| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
artifice
|
|
| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
entity
|
|
| n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
rectification
|
|
| n. 改正, 改订, 矫正 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
decomposes
|
|
| 腐烂( decompose的第三人称单数 )； （使）分解； 分解（某物质、光线等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
components
|
|
| （机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
decomposed
|
|
| 已分解的，已腐烂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
molecularly
|
|
| 分子状态地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
formulate
|
|
| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
dynamics
|
|
| n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
antithesis
|
|
| n.对立；相对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
formulating
|
|
| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
rectify
|
|
| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
psychology
|
|
| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
artifices
|
|
| n.灵巧( artifice的名词复数 )；诡计；巧妙办法；虚伪行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
merged
|
|
| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
justify
|
|
| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
secretion
|
|
| n.分泌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
contraction
|
|
| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
contemplate
|
|
| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |