ave a triple sphericity of substances having a physicochemical differentiation. But it is not the spherical Form alone, nor the proximate principles alone, which constitutes vitality—it is the union of the two.
This point need not be further pursued—we must await more accurate knowledge before attempting to determine what are the details of the process ; my object is attained if I have made clear to the reader's mind that --
The passage from the inorganic to the organic is a triple process of differentiation—1. Of Elements; 2. Of Synthesis ; 3. Of Form ; and the union of " higher multiples" (in certain determinate conditions named " proximate principles") with " Spherical Form," is the final step which determines vitality.
The differences, important and minute, which we observe in the myriad phenomena of Organic Life, depend upon minute and important differences in the Synthesis of the Elements and in the Form ; every new addition brings with it a new complexity, for every statical difference carries with it a dynamic difference ; and thus in an `ascending series of evolutions from the simple to the complex, from the anorganic to the merorganic, from the merorganic to the teleorganic, from the simplest stages of the teleorganic to those highly complex manifestations seen in the finest organizations, we learn to gather the phenomena of the universe into one majestic Whole, and learn that all lines of demarcation are subjective only. In a word we learn that Life is an evolution, not a separate creation, and is thus essentially connected with the great Life of the Universe.
No thinking man will imagine anything is explained by this. The great mystery of Life and Being remains as inaccessible as ever. But a grander conception of Nature as one Whole, and a more philosophic attitude of mind, in contemplating the varieties of that whole, will result from the restitution of the homogeneity of Nature, when we learn with Goethe, Schelling, and Coleridge, to see Life everywhere, and nowhere Death.
Be that as it may, I think it indispensable to the true understanding of Biology, that we should familiarize ourselves with the truth, that, between the Inorganic and Organic there is no absolute essential difference, but only a great phenomenal difference, arising from the complexity of the lines of direction of force ; and also with the necessity—as a scientific artifice—of dividing the so-called Organic Chemistry into Chemistry and Biology.