The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-11-01

& N"2'HEN we analyze the material processes
y y OF life we find nothing but the Same
physics and chemistry that we find in
the processes aud changes in the inorganic
world, yet how wide the difference between q
living and non-living body! Here is where
vtalism, so.caed, gets its hold. But that life.
q In all its manifold forms. is anything but nat
ural, as the late w. K. Brooks said, Is unthiuk.
able. Yet that word natural covers multi
tude of mysteries. That 1t covers some un.
known factor in life, something beyond the
reach of scientific analysis to detect, and some.
thing that scientific synthesis cannot produce,
is to me obvious enough, while at the same
time see no escape from the conclusion that
. this nameless something must be with the
total system of things.
Science cannot get away from the natural
order, and 1t sees man. and all other forms OF
;life as an integral part OF 1.-THE order, which
In inert matter is automatic and fateful and
which In living matter is prophetic and indie.
terminate; the course Of one down the geo.
logic ages, seeking only mechanical repose,
being marked by collisions and descriptions;
the other in its course down the bioogic ages
seeking a vital and unstable repose. being
marked by pain. failure. carnage, extinction.
and ceaseless struggle with the physical order
upon which it depends. Man has taken his
chances in the clash OF blind matter, and in the
warfare Of living forms. He has been the pet
OF no god. the favorite of no power earth or
in heaven He Is one of the fruits OF the great
cosmic tree. and Is subject to the same hazards
and failures as the fruit OF all other trees:
The frosts may nip him in the bud. the storms
beat him down. foes Of earth and air prey
upon him, and hostile influences from all sides
impede or mar him. The very forces that up
hold him and furnish him his armory of tools
and of power will destroy him the moment he
is off his guard
He Is like the trainer of wild beasts who,
at his peril, for one instant relaXes his mas.
terry over them. Gravity. electricity. fire. flood.
hurricane, VIII crush or consume him If his
hand is unsteady or his wits tardy. Nature
has dealt with him upon the same terms as with
all other forms of life. She has shown him no
favor. The same elements. the same water
air, lime iron. sulphur oxygen. carbon, and so
on make up his body and his brain make
up theirs and the same make up theirs as are
constituents of the insensate rocks. soils and
clouds. The same elements but another blend;
similar atoms and molecules, but a different
order; the same solar energy. but working to
other ends; the same life principle, but lifted
to higher plane How can we separate man
from the total system of things, setting him
upon one side and then upon another making
the relation OF the two mechanical or acct
dental? 1t Is only In thought, or in obedience
TO some creed or philosophy, that we do it.
In LIE, In action, we unconsciously recognize
ourselves as part of nature Our success and
weil-being depend upon the closeness and
spontaneousness OF the relation.
u all this is interpreted TO mean that life,
that the mind and soul of man. are of material
origin, science does not shrink from the infer.
ence Only the inference demands a newer
and higher conception Of matterLthe concep.
ton that Tyndall expressed when he wrote the
word with a capital NJ. and declared that Mat.
terewas at bottom essentially mystical and
transcendental": that Goethe expressed when
he called matter "the living garment of Cod;
ana mat whitman expressed when he said that
the soul and the body were one The material
ism OF the great seers and prophets of science
VINO penetrate into the true inwardness Of mat
ter VINO see through the veil Of its gross OBJ