The Fitness of the Environment

hand, is no concern of the scientist. What- ever else it may achieve, mechanism can never explain, cannot even face the problem of the existence of matter and energy. Within the world of science these are conserved ; only outside that world can they have originated or not originated. As for the existence of life, in spite of our utter ignorance, it must be admitted that a half century has greatly diminished the number of substantial biolo- gists who really look forward to its scientific explanation, and the greatest chemists have ever shared such a view. Liebig is reported by Lord Kelvin to have replied to the ques- tion whether he believed that a leaf or a flower could be formed or could grow by chemical forces, "I would more readily believe that a book on chemistry or on botany could grow out of dead matter. " ^ Darwin, too, once said, "It is mere rubbish thinking at present of the origin of life ; one might as well think of the origin of matter."^ Since Liebig's day the chemical organization of the cell has become in scientific knowledge vastly more complex than it was before, and I know of no biological chemist to whom the spontaneous,

1 Lord Kelvin, "On the Dissipation of Energy," Popular Lectures, Vol. Ill, p. 464. that is to say, the mechanistic, origin of a cell is scientifically imaginable,^ though all believe that once formed, cells exist as mechanisms in a mechanistic universe.^ Thus the chem- ist puts his mind at rest regarding the exist- ence of life, just as the physicist calms his regarding the existence of matter, simply by turning his back on the problem. Thereby he suffers nothing in his practical task as a man of science.

Returning now to fitness, we may be sure that, whatever successes science shall in future celebrate within the domain of teleology, the philosopher will never cease to perceive the wonder of a universe which moves onward from chaos to very perfect harmonies, and, quite apart from any possible mechanistic * This is not to express an opinion concerning the problem of abiogenesis; all admit that we cannot disprove such a theory. But while biophysicists like Professor Schafer follow Spencer in assuming a gradual evolution of the organic from the inorganic, biochemists are more than ever unable to per- ceive how such a process is possible, and without taking any final stand prefer to let the riddle rest. But if lite has originated by an evolutionary process from dead matter, that is surely the crowning and most wonderful instance of teleology in the whole universe.

explanation of origin and fulfillment, to feel it a worthy sub j ect of reflection. From this point of view, however, science need expect no inter- ference, but without any last vestige of former shackles may pursue the search after mechan- istic explanations of all natural phenomena.^ At length we have reached the conclusion which I was concerned to establish. Science has finally put the old teleology to death. Its disembodied spirit, freed from vitahsm and all material ties, immortal, alone lives on, and from such a ghost science has noth- ing to fear. The man of science is not even obliged to have an opinion concerning its reality, for it dwells in another world where he as scientist can never enter.

* "An evolution is a series of events that in itself as series is purely physical, — a set of necessary occurrences ia the world of space and time. An egg develops into a chick; a poet grows up from infancy; a nation emerges from bar- barism ; a planet condenses from the fluid state, and develops the life that for millions of years makes it so wondrous a place. Look upon all these thiags descriptively, and you shall see ;aothing but matter moving instant after instant, each con- taining in its full description the necessity of passing over into the next. Nowhere will there be, for descriptive science, any genuine novelty or any discontinuity admissible. But look at the whole appreciatively, historically, synthetically, as a musician listens to a symphony, as a spectator watches a drama. Now you shall seem to have seen, in phenomenal form, a story." — Eoyce, "The Spirit of Modern Philosophy." Boston and New York, 1896, 8th ed., p. 425.

I cannot hope to have provided more than a very imperfect illumination of certain as- pects of teleology in this venture upon the foreign field of metaphysics, and I should wish to be understood as very doubtful of my success in stating what seem to me some of the philosophical conclusions to be dr^wn from the fitness of the environment. There is, however, one scientific conclusion which I wish to put forward as a positive and, I trust, fruitful outcome of the present investigation. The properties of matter and the course of cosmic evolution are now seen to be intimately related to the structure of the living being and to its activities ; they become, therefore, far more important in biology than has been previously suspected. For the whole evolutionary process, both cos- mic and organic, is one, and the biologist may now rightly regard the universe in its verv essence as biocentric.

'T^HE following pages contMn advertisements of a few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects. This is the first book to bring together the results of the most recent work in biology, zoology, neurology in particular, in genetic and comparative psychology, and in anthropology, showing the sig- nificance of this work for the analysis of the fiindamental factors in the determination of human behavior ; namely, instinct, intelligence, feeling, and the different types of social relationships.

The book contains contributions which are vital to psychologists, anthropologists, and social scientists, and will be of great value to the general reader bringing together in convenient form the results of work which is of so much significance for the study of human behavior and human nature. To those engaged in educational work it will be of great use, and will be found valuable as a col- lege and university text-book in certain courses in psychology and sociology.

With a Description of some of the Phenomena tvhich it explains Professor of Biology in the Woman's College of Baltimore Second Edition, Revised The lectures out of which this book has grown were written for the author's students at the Woman's College of Baltimore, and for others in the college not familiar with biology who had expressed a desire to attend such a course of lectures. The book is, therefore, not intended for biolo- gists, but rather for those who would like a brief introductory outline of this important phase of biological theory.

It has been the author's endeavor to avoid technicality so far as possible, and present the subject in a way that will be intelligible to those unfamiliar with biological phenomena. The subject, however, is somewhat intricate, and cannot be presented in so simple a manner as to require no thought on the reader's part; but it is hoped that the interest of the subject will make the few hours spent in the perusal of this book a pleasure rather than a burden.

In many instances matter that might have been elaborated in the text has been treated in the pictures, which, with their appended explanations, form an essential part of the presentation of the subject. This method of treatment has been chosen both for the sake of the greater vividness thus secured and because it enables the book to be reduced to the limits de- sired. Many of the illustrations have been obtained from books with which the reader may wish later to become familiar.

"The translation is faithful and readable. There are added a sym- pathetic preface by the translator and an admirably comprehensive bibliography of articles about Bergson's philosophy in several lan- guages. The first presentation of this important contemporary to our public has been so vrell done that all readers of the book must lament the sudden death of the young Oxford scholar to vrhom we owe the service." — Nation. "This is a great work, profoundly original, rigorous and keen in analysis, clear in statement ; and while showing that language com- pels us to treat life and its problems in a symbolical manner, yet it also shows that a close analysis of experience clearly reveals the true concrete life. Professor Bergson does not profess to cover the entire field of philosophy in this volume, but what he has covered is done in such an original and profound way that no one who pretends to keep abreast of philosophical thought will ignore it." — Boston Tran- script.

This translation has been made from the fifth edition, 1908, of " Ma- tifere de Memoire," by Henri Bergson, Member of the Institute and Professor at the College de France. It has the very great advantage of being revised in proof by the author. A new introduction has also been written which supersedes that which accompanied the original work. The reader's attention is called to the fact that all the mar- ginal notes are peculiar to the English edition ; and that M. Bergson is not responsible for their insertion or character.

The work has been highly successful in France, where it is in its sev- enth edition. It has been translated into Russian, Polish, and Swed- ish. German and Hungarian translations are under preparation. Its success is due partly to the novelty of the explanation offered of the comic, and partly also to the fact that the author incidentally dis- cusses questions of still greater interest and importance.