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    lents , yet different properties ; and ttie mystery is , as I said , a mystery of synthesis : the variety in the direction of the forces , produces the variety of phenomena . : And this leads me to some considerations which , inasmuch as they form a part of my dynamical theory of the universe , and are , as I conceive , strictly in accordance with the principles of positivism , I will rapidly indicate . Is there , except as a scientific artifice , any distinction between the in- > organic and organic worlds ? No . The same elements are common to both ; the differences in the phenomena are owing to differences . in the arrangement of these elements , * just as starch , wood , and sugar are different in their properties , though composed of the same elements .

    Whether we suppose the unknown Forces which manifest themselves m phenomena to be many , or one taking many directions- * --whether we suppose the so called elementary atoms to be distinct elements or one element * the conclusion is not affected that , Between inorganic and organic bodies the marked distinction lies in the latter being combinations of more complex orders . Thus , a particle of salt is composed of a group of two atoms , while a particle of olive oil is composed of several hundreds of atoms . From the dawn of organic life upwards , we perceive an ascending complexity , owing , primarily , I believe , to the greater multiples of the elementary

    equivalents . Thus , if a particle of salt contains only two atoms , these two atoms only attract each other in one direction ; but in a particle of sugar , which consists of thirty-six atoms , the attraction is acting in thirty-six different directions . " Without adding , " says Liebig , " or withdrawing any element , we may conceive the thirty-six simple atoms , of which the atom of sugar consists , to be arranged in a thousand different ways ; with every alteration in the position of any single atom of the thirtysix , the compound atom ceases to be an atom of sugar * since the properties belonging to it change with every alteration in the arrangement of the constituent atoms . "— ( Letters on Chemistry . )

    The four elements , named organogens , oxygen , hydrogen , carbon / and nitrogen , are infinite in their modes of combination . Lead and oxygen combine in two proportions only , viz ., the protoxide P b O , and the peroxide P b O , and these unite to form a third combination , red lead . But the combinations of the organogens are innumerable , and differ , not only in relative but in absolute quantities ( Mulder : Physiologischen Chemie . ) And it is from the infinite variety of these combination !*— -these directions of force , that the variety of organic phenomena proceed .

    To make intelligible by an illustration this effect of different arrangement : When iron is in mass it has but a slight tendency to become oxidized ; but the same mass of iron , it minutely divided , cannot be brought into contact even with atmospheric air at low temperature , without becoming red hot , and at the same time becoming converted into an oxide . Cobalt , nickel , and uranium possess the same qualities ( Mulder . ) What is the explanation of this curious fact—which , by the way , is at the service of homceopathists as an argument for triturated medicines ? Not that the particles of iron acquire a new force by division ; but that these molecules , when accumulated into a mass are prevented from acting in that direction , and their force is what we call " latent . "

    The peculiarity of dead matter is its stability , of living matter its instability ; and this arises from the simplicity of the combinations in the one case and the cprnplexity in the other . The more complicated the group of atoms the more easily-isLit disturbed . We come , then , to the conclusion that , between the inorganic and the organic there is only a difference of combination , an increasing complexity in the lines of direction of force . This is the foundation-stone of the dynamical theory . Once suppose that force can be created and the mechanical theory will support all the pretensions of theology ; development will give place to incessant creation , and the metaphysical entities named Vital

    Principles will reign supreme . For , observe the marked pheiwmenal difference between organized and inorganized matter naturally strike men as arising from essential differences . " There was a time when men could not account for the origin of the lime of the bones , the phosphoric acid in them , and in the brain , the iron in the blood , and the alkalies in plants ; and we now find it inconceivable that this ignorance should have been regarded as a proof that the animal or vegetable organism possessed the power of creating iron , phosphorus , lime , and potash , by virtue of its inherent vital forces , out of food containing none of these substances . This convenient explanation naturally put an end to the inquiry as to their real origin , and arrested true investigation . " ( Liebig . )

    Unless we accept some such metaphysical explanation , how are wo to understand—if inorganic and organic are essentially different—the ordinary processes of nutrition and growth ? A plant takes from earth , air , and water certain gases , which it converts into cellular tissue , and thence into woody tissue , and so on—i . e ., creates organic matter from inorganic matter ; plays the part of a God by virtue of its " inherent vital forces ! " Whereas , on the dynamic theory , although the mystery of Life remains as inaccessible as ever , the Methods of Nature are at least conceived as consistent and homogeneous .

    1 am aware of all the prejudices , notably theological prejudices , which will be shocked by this identification of the organic with the inorganic ; but Truth is always consistent with itself , and on no other conception can the whole of the phenomena be made consistent . I was conducted to this denial of any essential distinction between the organic and inorganic by a long series of researches , when I had the intense gratification of finding it

    confirmed by Mulder ^ the day ; and to the first nine who hesitates to accept the view . * Indeed , one of the most indisputable truths whichthe study of Nature elicits is the impdssibiUtyof d ^ wins definite lines of demarcation . Every one knows how the animal and vegetable kingdoms are inextricably interlaced ! at their- boundaries , and when we find the articulation ^ of the GalUoneUa ferhig iniga- ^ -orie of the Infusoria discoveredby Ehrenberg—^ being * composed almost entirely of oxide of iron

    we ate puzzled where to draw the Ime between , the mineral and the animal Miiller , indeed , insists upon an essential distinction between the molecular and vital action . " Chemical compounds , " he says , ¦*< ¦ we know are regulated by the intrinsic properties and the elective affinities of the substances uniting to form them . ; in organic bodiesj on the contrary , the power which induces . and maintains the combination of their elements does not consist in the intrinsic properties of these elements , hut is something else , which not only counteracts these affinities but affects combinations in

    direct opposition to them , and conformably to the law of its own operation . " This is an abstract statement of the almost universal proposition , that the vital force overrules chemical action—that the body , for instance , resists decomposition while alive , but as soon as life has left it chemical action resumes its wonted efficiency , and decomposes the substances formerl y protected by vital force . This is almost universally believed to be the explanation of an obvious fact . That it is a purely metaphysical explanation I hope the reader of these papers sees at once . "Vital force is one of the metaphysical entities . But a more intimate acquaintance with chemical and physiological phenomena will , I am persuadedy prove the explanation to be wholly erroneous . As Liebig truly says , " So far from there being

    any foundation for the opinion that chemical force is subordinate to vital power , so as to become inoperative or imperceptible to us , the chemical effects of oxygen in the process of respiration , for example , are seen in full activity during every second of life . " He might have multiplied the examples indefinitely . Whenever we think we see chemical force imperative it is simply because the force is acting in another direction . The same phenomenon occurs in purely chemical combinations . For example , sulphur has an affinity for lead—i . e ., when the direction of its force is not counteracted by some other direction-r-when its path is not intersected by some other path it will combine with lead . But if We fuse a mixture of

    iron and lead together with sulphur in a crucible * the iron separates from the lead and combines with the sulphur ; and so long as there is any particle of iron uncombined with sulp hur , so long does the affinity of the sulphur for the lead remain inoperative . When all the iron is combined , then the sulphur which remains free combines with the lead . What is this but the analogue of that very process which prevents the decomposition of a living body by the action of atmospheric air , and permits the decomposition of the dead body ? Or , again , when water poured into a red hot crucible is converted into ice , if there be liquid sulphuric acid present , are we to suppose chemical force inoperative because the ordinary effects of heat upon water are thus changed ?

    That a great difference exists between chemical phenomena and vital phenomena I have already admitted , and upon that difference rests the necessity for a separation of the sciences of Chemistry and Biology , and consequently the effacement of any distinct science of Organic Chemistry . But this difference is not essential . It does not arise from the presence of a new force , but from the complication of the phenomena owing to the varieties in direction of the one unknown force . It is a new evolution ,

    not a new creation . An egg is organic , but it is not living . That is to say , its component molecules are so arranged that the application of a determinate force ( heat ) will give a determinate direction to its molecules , which will result in the phenomena of life . The seeds which were found in Egyptian tombs , where they had lain for thousands of years , were not alive ; they manifested none of the phenomena of life ; they might have existed an eternity in that state ; yet by placing them in proper conditions they germinated lived . Now there are three explanations of this fact . 1 st . The seed had a " vital principle" within it , capable of manifesting

    itself under suitable conditions . }> 2 nd . The seed received life from heat , which is a « ' vital principle . 3 rd . The seed was a peculiar arrangement of organic molecules , which , when a determinate direction was given to its forces , manifested certain phenomena collectively named life . . The two first are pure metaphysical assumptions ; the last is an abstrac statement of what observation reveals .

    "If , " says Mulder , " we review the phenomena of life caused byj * change of materials , we must go back to the original formation of organs to the growth of an individual from a germ . We perceive np greater trace of the future Oak in . the Acorn , than of the Chicken in the embryo ot "i Egg . Should we say that the Acorn is governed by an Oak-forming * ojret , the embryo by a Chicken-forming Force . Though it cannot be denied , tlia ^ , in the embryo , the rudiments of the futurp organs of the Chicken are n to be found ; yet we do find the materials from which the first ^ uimSjie of will be producedere we find rudiments of rudiments . 1 » T 114 \ * ——

    organs , J vA \/ ALll * AlD VVAAA W */* UVi . lAV ^** j VU « - < « A A m »**»** % *»• •« -- _ - | molecular forces , which are inseparable from matter , are present as we the materials . If in these molecules there . exists no capacity ^}^^ 1 J > - * Thoro ia tin English translation , edifcoa l > y lWoflaor Johnston , puWiwwa py »»»" wood and Sons .

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    610 ¦ ¦ ' . ' . : TH | I ; E . AD E R . ¦ ' ¦ j .:-, \ : : ' ., . ; { SA * % fife ^ ; . - :

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1852, page 616, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1941/page/20/