The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-08-06
When the Elements Have Hands and Feet

Many natural philosophers of our time
believe that the appearance of life upon
this planet was a fortuitous occurrence
that it was as accidental as the fall
of die, or as the profile OF the rocks
entirely the result of the blind hit-and-
miss method of nature as seen in the
inorganic world. In the last analysis,
according TO this view, we are all merely
molecular accidents. Let us see in what
sense, if any, this may be true To come
at the truth in il we must look upon
the fortuitous and the accidental, not
as they occur in world of mechanical
reaction. The fortuitous among chem
ical bodies is quite a different thing
from the fortutous among ponderable
bodies. We might shake together the
parts OF a watch for all eternity and
not get that adjustment of the wheels
and springs that makes a watch. If
thousand OF brick are dumped upon the
ground, is there any probability that
they will take the form of a house
Or il the letters OF the alphabet are
shaken up together in a bag, is there
the slightest chance that they will ar
range themselves into words and that
the words will arrange themselves into
intelligent sentences In all these
things the parts have no attraction for
one another, but among chemical com.
pounds, out of which living bodies are
built up, there rules the selective force
Of chemical affinity. The clouds arc
ever changing, but they never change
into living forms. The waves shift
and pile the sands endlessly upon the
shore, but the shore is always essen
TALLY the same. Gravity is the rul.
ing force. But among chemical bodies
new force appear; chemical affinity
is here the determining factor. The
law OF probability plays . secondary
part. Spontaneous combustion, for in
stance. j. a molecular accident only in
a limited sense. The antecedent con
ditions NAV be in q measure accidental,
but thc chemical reactions that bring
about the rise of temperature 20 the
point Of combustion arc not accidental. /
they inhere "a the constitution Of the /
elements. Life may b. Of spontaneous /
and fortuitous origin 10 the same sense, /
NOT mere chance happening among 4
lNNFNMAfal WtAIrs NNA NV ENNNIMAHA aNI j
Of long auteccdent conditions brought 1
about ~ that mysterious force We caii 4
chemical attraction. This force gives 1
The elements eyes. and hands. and feet.
and power of ehoice. and determifes 4
the line 81 their activities. The scien-
tife philosophers ind no tendency o.
activity in living matter that they can.
Mt match IN the uon-iiriua. hence 20
them there b. no d.nereaHa hffWren /
the fao that experimental saienee can
grasp. Bot behold the dlHerenee e.
1ur cunseiousnesst The difference I5es
IN TIRE rurposivs activities II one that
nilseut from the ether. Thers b. ~
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