Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/310

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consciousness, will, motion, the bias of habit, and an unquenchable desire for association and aggregation.^[1] They become conjoined, numerically and morphologically, in progressive grades of complexity, originating by one kind of alliance the chemical elements which constitute the organic world, and by another the vital elements, which form the protoplasmic basis of animal and plant life.^[2] The organic kingdom rests upon the inorganic, and preys upon it, evolving

↑ Epicurus, the unavowed disciple of Leucippus and Democritus, the earliest atomists, conceived the coalescence of the particles to result from their rushing onwards always under the influence of a certain natural deflection which led to their meeting continually so as to become conjoined. As an Academic, and, therefore, a sceptic, Carneades could not accept this or any other theory, but in criticizing its fortuity, he remarked that it might have been perfected, or, at least, made more intelligible if Epicurus had conferred some faculty of will or intention on his atoms; Cicero, De Finibus, i, 6; De Fato, 11. With our increased knowledge of physics, we may now venture to supply the deficiency in accordance with the suggestion of Carneades. Not even in the process of crystallization can the motion of the atoms or molecules be considered as fortuitous, since they seem to be borne towards each other under the influence of some irresistible desire. The recent investigators strongly uphold the vitality of the process.
↑ The question of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, remains still indeterminate. Substances in transitional stages between the vital and the non-vital state have not been observed; perhaps because such matter is too inconspicuous to have been discovered so far and recognized, or, it may be, that the swarm of germs by descent is now so great, that the incipiently organic at once becomes their prey, and forms, perhaps, their constant pabulum. If identical atoms underlie all kinds of matter, and the recent début of electrons brings the proof appreciably nearer that it is so, we are still at a loss to explain why they should at one time, by their association, exhibit vital phenomena, and at another reveal to us their versatility in aggregating under the species of gold, sulphur, etc. The statement in the text might run that the chemical compounds combine with each other in greater complexity to form the elements of protoplasm.

[1] Epicurus, the unavowed disciple of Leucippus and Democritus, the earliest atomists, conceived the coalescence of the particles to result from their rushing onwards always under the influence of a certain natural deflection which led to their meeting continually so as to become conjoined. As an Academic, and, therefore, a sceptic, Carneades could not accept this or any other theory, but in criticizing its fortuity, he remarked that it might have been perfected, or, at least, made more intelligible if Epicurus had conferred some faculty of will or intention on his atoms; Cicero, De Finibus, i, 6; De Fato, 11. With our increased knowledge of physics, we may now venture to supply the deficiency in accordance with the suggestion of Carneades. Not even in the process of crystallization can the motion of the atoms or molecules be considered as fortuitous, since they seem to be borne towards each other under the influence of some irresistible desire. The recent investigators strongly uphold the vitality of the process.

[2] The question of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, remains still indeterminate. Substances in transitional stages between the vital and the non-vital state have not been observed; perhaps because such matter is too inconspicuous to have been discovered so far and recognized, or, it may be, that the swarm of germs by descent is now so great, that the incipiently organic at once becomes their prey, and forms, perhaps, their constant pabulum. If identical atoms underlie all kinds of matter, and the recent début of electrons brings the proof appreciably nearer that it is so, we are still at a loss to explain why they should at one time, by their association, exhibit vital phenomena, and at another reveal to us their versatility in aggregating under the species of gold, sulphur, etc. The statement in the text might run that the chemical compounds combine with each other in greater complexity to form the elements of protoplasm.

[1]

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