Truth and Error or the Science of Intellection/Chapter 7

by John Wesley Powell

CHAPTER VII

PRINCIPLES OR PROPERTIES OF ANIMALS

We are yet to consider a higher degree of relativity than that exhibited in the bodies which we have heretofore examined. This higher degree is the discrete degree observed in animals. Plants have assimilation, which is both constructive and differentiating. In animals this rises to a high degree of relativity in that assimilation, both constructive and differentiating, is coincidently accompanied by destruction of the part that is reconstructed. The plant assimilates until its growth is complete, except in the higher plants in which the leaves drop from time to time and are returned to the inorganic world, and except in the same higher plants germs are given off which may be returned to the inorganic world, or continue as new plants when new plants are developed, but the trunk of the plant remains while it grows, and is returned to the inorganic world only when it dies. The animal assimilates and coincidently with this assimilation gives up a part of its material to the inorganic world. This is what I call metabolism, which is both constructive and differentiating of the material wrought into the structure of the body, while at the same time a part of the material of this structure is disintegrated and returned to the inorganic world. Thus the animal dies in part that it may live as an individual, and if it ceases to die in part it ceases to live, and when it ceases to live through death, it dies altogether and returns to the inorganic world. In other words we may say that in the plant phytons are dropped and renewed, but in the higher animals, organs which are homologous to phytons are not dropped and renewed, with minor exceptions, although molecules of the organ are discarded and coincidently new molecules take their place. By metabolism, therefore, we mean something higher than assimilation by a discrete degree of relativity.

So the animal grows not only by molecular additions to its substance, through which its size is increased, and whereby structural material is added, but the structure of the animal itself is constantly undergoing a change. Throughout the whole animal body a reconstruction is forever in progress; and this continues even after growth ceases as long as life lasts. This is the new principle of form, which is reconstruction.

Every particle of matter has speed, which cannot be increased or diminished, but the particles of inanimate matter seem mutually to direct one another’s paths except in the case of incorporation, when they seem to be directed by affinity, the nature of which is not fully explained. The animal has a new power by which it determines its own path as a body; thus it can direct its own course. The animal is encompassed by an environment out of which it cannot pass but within which it can move as it chooses. With some animals this environment is the atmosphere, with others it is the hydrosphere, while other animals are fixed to the rocky sphere and have their movements greatly restricted in the hydrosphere or the atmosphere. Of those animals that have three degrees of freedom in the two outer spheres many are restricted by climatic conditions. The mode of motion by which animate bodies are capable of this higher degree of motion I call motility, which is self-directed molar motion or self-activity.

As this self-directed molar motion appears in the animal it enlarges its theater of action, being able to seek a new theater in which its self-activity may be employed. Thus the animal, no longer confined by a narrow environment, is able to invade a new region and exercise itself there. The animal can go from one environment to another in search of new conditions, changing the environment by its activities and taking advantage of the new environment by receiving the effect which the new environment produces. It is necessary for the plant to remain in a fixed environment and to act only when it is acted upon, but the animal may seek an environment more congenial and conducive to its wants, or ideals of good; thus it may escape evil on the one hand or acquire good on the other. It may choose its activities. This I call self-activity, which is force of a higher degree of relativity than that observed in plants by a discrete degree.

The animal, like the plant, has heredity, and its ancestors are the causes of its activity from which it cannot wholly escape. Its self-activity is therefore only within the compass of its hereditary activity; but while it has hereditary activity it is also subject to environmental actions, which are also causes from which it cannot escape. But as it chooses its environment within degrees of freedom, the environment is not wholly inexorable. Thus if food does not come to the animal the animal may go to the food. When the storm comes it may escape its action by seeking shelter, and in multitudinous ways it may choose the activities in which it was engaged, and choose the actions of others to which it will submit.

The lower forms of plants multiply by subdivision, but in the higher plants they multiply by sexual conjugation, the different sex organs being produced in the same plant or in different plants. In these higher plants the conjugation is adventitious in that the pollen must be carried by the wind or by insects or other agencies from the male to the female plant. But the higher animals have the power of choosing their mates, so that the continuance in generations is controlled by volition.

In plants, male and female germs, as particles, conjugate or choose one another. In the higher animals male and female bodies conjugate as bodies. This conjugation is accomplished by the mutual choice of the individuals as bodies, and the mutual choice of the individuals as bodies involves the consciousness of both, and this consciousness must have expression, and this expression is language. Hence reproduction in animals is dependent upon the mutual choice of animals, which choice is expressed in language in some form or other. Here we have a discrete advance in degree of relativity in reproduction which we call expression.

In animals we clearly find a fifth property which we cannot ignore, and which ultimately we shall find to be strangely like affinity. This property of the animate body permits it to form judgments about the nature of environments, and then it may form judgments about the good and evil of these environments in relation to itself. Judgments grow into concepts as judgment is added to judgment by experience. Thus a body of judgments is formed concerning every object in the environment which grows by increments of judgments. These concepts, which are the creation of the animal, constitute the fifth principle which we have to consider. We have therefore metabolism, reconstruction, motility, expression and conception with which to deal in the consideration of animal bodies.

These five principles exist in the lowest protozoa or unicellular animals. The evolution of animal life is the development of organs of metabolism, reconstruction, motility, reproduction and conception.

The five systems of organs are concomitant in the same animal body. They are also concomitant in every organ of the body, so that when we describe organs it becomes necessary to consider their concomitants. An organ may have the function of one concomitant, but it has the essentials of all the concomitants, for they cannot be dissociated, as we have many times seen. A certain part of the matter of the body is set apart to perform a specialized office for the other parts; and this specialization is accomplished by assigning a function to the essentials or concomitants severally. It is thus that there are five systems of organs; the first for metabolism, the second for reconstruction, the third for motility, the fourth for reproduction, and the fifth for conception. Thus we have the digestive apparatus, the circulatory apparatus, the motor apparatus, the generative apparatus and the conceiving or thinking apparatus. These apparatuses are completely concomitant with one another; so that every organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner. When we are considering an organ we are compelled to consider a dominant function with four ancillary functions; or it may be stated in another way: an organ cannot act but in a cooperative way with other organs. Thus while the essentials are concomitant in every particle of matter they are also concomitant in every cell, in every organ, and in every body. If the expression may be permitted, nature reasons as men reason, abstractly, but is always cognizant that abstractions can be realized only in the concrete. Thus the mouth is one of the organs of the digestive system; but it also has ancillary organs of circulation, motility, reproduction and conception. The eye is an organ of the conceiving apparatus, but it has ancillary organs of digestion, circulation, motility, and probably of reproduction. The animal itself is an organ in a society of animals. Society is the culmination of a hierarchy of organs of lower grade, and every organ in every grade of the hierarchy has ancillary organs. Without entering into these subjects at length, we must give a description of these organs and functions of the animal with such elaboration only as our present purpose demands.

II

Again in this higher realm of relativity we are forced to consider the numerical relations of ultimate particles in a hierarchy of molecules which appear in kinds of substances. For present purposes we may not delay the argument for the purpose of setting forth the metabolic processes of digestion and excretion by which vegetal food is wrought into animal bodies in all the kinds of animate things; we may simply illustrate the facts necessary for this argument as they are derived from the higher animals. Digestion begins with mastication and a special substance is developed in the salivary glands to elaborate the food. Then the food is carried to the stomach, where another special substance is furnished by the liver. Finally the materials of the food are digested, excluding such indigestible substances as are taken into the stomach, and the selected and prepared food is the blood, which bears a relation to the animal analogous to that which protoplasm does to the plant. Out of the blood all of the tissues are wrought, each in its kind, and every tissue is a kind of its own, and there are kinds of kinds, so that the animal organism is a chemical laboratory engaged during the existence of the animal in building up more complex substances and tearing them down into more specialized substances, and this is metabolism, or zoochemistry. When the animal dies decay supervenes as a chemical process. The metabolic organs, therefore, are the organs of digestion which prepare the food for the blood, the organs of secretion which furnish material to aid digestion, and the organs of excretion. The science of the chemistry of animate substances is yet in its infancy and the kinds appearing in the animate realm are at the present stage of research vicariously represented by forms. We must therefore consider them as factors of morphology. The blood is composed of serum, which is the vehicle of transportation. In this serum there float erythrocytes or red corpuscles, which are unicellular organisms into which much of the food has been converted and which is the material for reconstruction. Thus the tissues of the animal are reconstructed out of unicellular organisms. In the blood there are also leucocytes and other unicellular organisms. We cannot enter into a discussion of the functions which these additional organisms perform, but go on to remark that the red corpuscles are built into the tissues of the animal or stored temporarily in fatty structures which are subsequently used in the tissues. In so far as these red corpuscles are incorporated into the tissues by molecular rearrangement, and in so far as they are decorporated by molecular arrangement, we have metabolism; while in so far as this produces a change of form, reconstruction is involved. Here the rearrangement of molecules by number becomes structural arrangement in form, for in a body kinds and forms are concomitant.

III

The blood prepared by the organs of metabolism is delivered to the organs of reconstruction. These are the blood-vessels, consisting of the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries, by which the material is transported and distributed to the parts where reconstruction is carried on. Thus there is a system of organs for reconstruction.

That which we found in the geonomic realm as spheres and in the phytomic realm as blasts, we here find in the zoönomic realm as derms, and we have the ectoderm, esoderm, and endoderm as encapsulating bodies, with a concentric nucleus. These cells are modified as they are combined into larger cells, but the cellular structure is still preserved in organ and individual. The metabolic organs or those of digestion, secretion and excretion are compound nuclei inclosed in cellular sacs; sometimes these sacs are greatly elongated so as to be tubular, but in general the organs of digestion and excretion have a cellular form with permanent compound nuclei or with passing nuclei when they are conduits to contents.

In the circulatory system of organs the same dermal structure is observed with its triune elements. In the heart there is a compound nucleus, but in the artery or vein the nucleus is passing content, and in the higher animals there is a vast system of ramifying tubes, which are duplicated as arteries and veins directly connected in the heart, and functionally connected with the capillaries.

In the activital or muscular system every organ is a fascicle of muscles, and each member of the fascicle has a dermal structure. The nucleus of the heart is a compound muscular organ of this character, whose function is to impel the blood; muscular tissue undergoes important metamorphoses, becoming tendonous and osseous for a variety of mechanical purposes. Tendons are dermal in structure, and bones are sacs enclosing nuclei of osseous tissue.

It was in the bony structure that homologies of form were first discovered, and the homologies of the vertebrate skeleton was at one time the sole theme of morphology. Of especial interest were the transformations that were discovered in the vertebrae in the development of limbs and cranium; but the subject of morphology has passed out of this stage into a wider field embracing all realms of nature. Only of late has it appeared in the morphology of formations and land features.

The reproductive cells are compounded into organs still preserving the typical structure.

It is in the organs of sense that the most marvelous changes of form are discovered. The metabolic sense organs are thrown into two not thoroughly differentiated groups known as the sense of taste and smell; but these groups seem to be continuous, that is, without a well-marked plane of separation; the one group, that of taste, taking cognizance of liquids, the other, that of smell, taking cognizance of vapors. The organs of touch are distributed throughout the skin; these are primarily the sense organs of form. The sense of stress or pressure seems to be in or immediately under the skin; the sense of duration or time is the sense of hearing, and the sense of ideation is the sense of seeing. The homologies of mouth and nose, skin, muscle, ear and eye, are yet imperfectly known; though much research has been bestowed upon them they are difficult to understand. Thus there are homologies of form in all the hierarchy of organs, for they all have the dermal structure.

IV

There are five modes of motility called functions; these are the functions of the metabolic, circulatory, muscular, reproductive and reasoning organs, as heretofore set forth. Metabolism continues as long as animate life continues, but is increased when the special function of the organ is stimulated; that is, both anabolism and catabolism increase in the organ by increase of its special function, but metabolism wanes as special function wanes.

The reasoning function may increase or retard the other functions, though it cannot wholly inhibit their action nor can it increase their action beyond certain limits. This fact is well known to psychologists and physiologists. It seems to be accomplished by the promotion of metabolism.

Here we are confronted with a problem met before concerning the nature of affinity which we have not been able to solve. If it were permitted to hold the doctrine which has been entertained by some great minds that every particle of matter has judgment, the question would be solved and affinity would be conscious choice. Affinity is often expressed as choice and many chemists have held this doctrine.

Next we have to consider how molar motion in the individual is self-directed. We have seen that molar motion is accomplished by compound organs. These organs are found in pairs, so that one acts against the other. We have seen, too, that the mind can accelerate metabolism and the mind can direct the motion of the animal. Now let us suppose that the mind can accelerate anabolism in one muscle and catabolism in its opposing muscle, and we have a very simple explanation of the nature of the self-direction of muscular energy the nature of the mechanism by which the animal may walk to the east or west at will. That muscles are in pairs is an anatomical fact, and that the one contracts while the other relaxes is a physiological fact, and that the mind somehow controls this muscular activity at will is a psychologic fact, and the whole thing is rendered simple and clear by the doctrine that anabolism in one muscle and catabolism in its opponent are each under the control of mind. But the mind of the cortex does not consciously choose the association of the several particles involved in metabolism. The affinity which is involved in metabolism must be the choice of the particles themselves, in obedience to commands issued by the organism of unicellular particles of which the body is composed, these ultimately acting in obedience to the command of the cortical consciousness. Metabolism is controlled by the central mind in some manner or other. Believing this we must infer that the particles of the muscles are conscious as units in a hierarchy of organs which at the other pole is the cortical consciousness. Here we first reach the facts the explanation of which seems to require the hypothesis that consciousness primarily inheres in the ultimate particle. If this hypothesis is accepted, we have the fundamental doctrine of psychology.

Science has demonstrated that motion cannot be created or destroyed. Mind, therefore, cannot create motion but only direct it. Mind directs the motion of the body by directing the motion of the organs of locomotion, and these are directed by the device of opposing muscles—the one being contracted and the other relaxed. So the choice of the animal is delegated to the choice of the organ, and the choice of the organ is delegated to the choice of the muscles. The muscles, therefore, must have the power of choice, which it also delegates to molecules. Therefore the molecules must have choice. We know that every unicellular organism of the blood is an independent animate being, with consciousness and choice. These independent animate beings are incorporated in the tissues of the animal having self-activity. We must therefore suppose that they retain their choice and consciousness, and the same choice seems to be exercised by every particle of the molecule; if so, animate existence as consciousness and choice is universal in every particle of matter.

The human body is a hierarchy of conscious bodies. In this hierarchy the lower members are controlled by the higher members. The lowest members are ultimate particles and the highest member is the cortical body. Now the cortical body controls all the others in the hierarchy and it ought to receive intelligence from all the others, for the consciousness of the particle is transmitted to the cortex, and the will of the cortex is transmitted to the cortical body, but only those which require regulation by it. Not all of the judgments of the cortical body, but only those of the particles which need regulation in a particular part, are transmitted to special particles. The government of the human body in all its hierarchy of bodies is strictly analogous to the government of a nation where the governing body of the nation is not cognizant of all which the individuals do, but it receives intelligence about the way they do in respect to those things which it attempts to control and it controls the individual only in those actions which are necessary to the welfare of the body politic. Thus the cognition and volition of the controlling body is but partial. There is local consciousness and local self-government. We will find some confirmation of this doctrine as we proceed, but its final elaboration will be more fully made in a subsequent work. Stated in our own terms, this is the doctrine of modern scientific physiology and psychology.

V

As in the geonomic realm so here in the animate realm there are processes. As in the phytonic realm so in this there are generations; now causation appears under a new aspect as development. The animal is composed of organs and these organs develop as they are exercised under the stimulus of mind, for while they are cooperative one part of a system may be developed at the expense of another, so that one organ in a congeries of organs may have great development while another organ in the same congeries may be neglected and ultimately in a series of generations may become atrophied. There is a law which finds its chief expression in this realm where one organ of the same system may be developed, while another may be atrophied. This may be stated as follows: progress in unification in organs of the same function is progress in rank. There is another law, the correlative of this; it is that the differentiation of functions with distinct organs is progress in rank.

The mechanical causes of force, form, and kind are conditions that are genetic, while the conditions of conception are teleologic. The teleologic conditions are concomitant with the genetic conditions.

VI

It seems probable that every particle of matter has consciousness and choice; certain it is that every particle of animate matter has these properties. In the animal body all of the particles coöperate and for this purpose a special nervous system is provided. In this system there is a congeries of cells, whose function is conception, connected by another congeries whose function is association. The conceiving cells are ganglia, the associating cells are medullary or fibrous. A group of such gray cells is connected with other groups by white fibers, and finally all of the ganglia are connected with all other animate cells of the individual by fibers. Thus the nervous system is a congeries of ganglionic organs, connected with and presiding over the other systems of organs. The fibers are connecting lines between the outer systems of organs and the special ganglia of the organs. These ganglia are grouped in the hierarchy of nervous organs by intervening fibrous nerves until they reach the master ganglion of the brain, which is the cortex. There is a peculiarity of the nervous system in the relation between the cells of the ganglia and the fibers of the connecting nerves, in that the fascicles of fibers are not structurally continuous with the ganglionic cells. Thus when a feeling starts in the end organ and is produced by its activity, it is carried along the fibers through the hierarchy of ganglia to the central cortex; the intervening ganglia may continue its transmission to the cortex or, as it seems, may inhibit it; or when, as in a dream, the system is relaxed, the impulse may go astray among the cells of a ganglion, and may be transmitted by unwonted fibers to the cortex at some incongruous point, for the cells of the ganglion constitute a shunting or directive apparatus by which impulses from one region are directed to others throughout the system. Now all of the metabolic, circulatory, motor, and reproductive organs are themselves organs for the initiation of impulses to the nervous system, and the ganglia of this nervous system, especially the cortex, are organs for the initiation of impulses that are conducted by the fibrous nerves to the metabolic, circulatory, motor, and reproductive organs. A ganglion seems to have the power to distribute these impulses to such point in the peripheral organs as they may select, but the central ganglion or cortex cannot directly reach the peripheral organ, but only through the intermediate ganglia in the hierarchy. An impulse emanating in the cortex is delivered to its nearest ganglion in the line in which it should go; this ganglion in turn directs it to another or to any group of end organs. Thus all of the systems of congeries of organs of which the body is composed are’ put in relation to the cortex. An impulse which originates in any organ of the complex system when transmitted to a ganglion I call a feeling impression.

Having seen the nature of the apparatus by which the other organs are put into communication with the ganglionic organs, and finally with the cortex through feeling impressions, it becomes necessary to exhibit the apparatus of the nervous organism which exists to connect the cortex and subordinate ganglia with the world external to the periphery of the body.

This apparatus consists in the sense organs and the fibrous nerves by which they are connected with the cortex. For the sense of taste and smell, which are metabolic, we have two organs that are not very well differentiated in structure, nor are they well differentiated in function, although they seem to be more thoroughly differentiated by the nature of the stimuli; for taste the object must be reduced to the fluid state, and for smell it must be reduced to the vapor state. Both of these organs have their nervous bodies connected by fibers with the central ganglia. The mouth and the nose are simple organs for the accumulation of sense stimuli, single in the one case and partially double in the other, but the nervous organs to which they lead and which they unify are many.

In the skin-covering of the body there are many tactual organs, which are unified through the continuity of the skin itself, yet they seem to be disparate not only in organ but in function. They are also connected with the cortex, but through ancillary ganglia, which are themselves ancillary brains. Touch is the primary organ of form.

There also seem to be organs of pressure either in the skin or immediately beneath it, though they have not been clearly made out. The fibers of the muscles themselves may be the end organs of the motor system, and it may be that nerve fibers everywhere accompany muscular fibers. Thus we know that the motor system is connected usually through ancillary ganglia with the cortex. The end organs of this system, be they the muscles themselves or specialized parts of them, are the organs for conveying to the cortex impressions of muscular force.

For the sense of hearing there are two organs for gathering the impulses which are propagated through the atmosphere, but in each there are many nerve organs. They are also connected with the cortex by their fibers. The semicircular canals seem in man to convey only feelings, but in aquatic animals it is probable that they are true sense organs, and convey sense impressions brought to them through the medium of the water. The ear is the primordial or fundamental sense by which time is conveyed to the cortex.

The eye is the organ for conveying sense impressions that are received from objects at a distance through the medium of the ether. Primarily or fundamentally it is the organ by which the conscious movements of other bodies are conveyed to the cortex.

In man and probably in many of the lower animals all of these senses are highly vicarious. This is preeminently the case with the eye. This organ, by reason of its self-activity, is peculiarly adapted to a great variety of vicarious functions, for it can adjust itself to direction through its muscles or by accommodation to distances and degrees of light. The faculty by which the eye moves and accommodates itself, together with the rapid vibration of ether particles, renders it possible to receive many sense impressions which come to it with a speed which is for all practical purposes instantaneous. For these reasons and for others that hereafter will be set forth, the eye is a universal organ of sense impression.

The ear also is highly adapted to vicarious functions, the air being the medium whose vibrations are rapid, though to a less degree than those of the ether. In the early history of mankind, when language was chiefly oral speech, the ear was rapidly developed in vicarious functions, especially in the function of conveying the properties of mind observed in other human beings, for by this organ men learn that other human beings have ideas and emotions like their own.

The motor sense also seems capable of becoming highly vicarious, for those persons who are deprived of sight and hearing can yet through the aid of this sense obtain a knowledge of the world which they can neither see nor hear; and what is more wonderful still, they can yet gain a knowledge of the ideas and emotions of their fellow men. The other senses in a still lower degree are vicarious.

It will be seen that I do not consider the temperature feeling to be a sense or to have sense organs. The temperature feeling seems to be the feeling of the functions of the circulatory system in degrees when it partially congeals the blood, or increases its fluidity, and is a feeling like that of a burn when it injures the skin. The distinction which is made between a feeling impression and sense impression is fundamental, and must be considered when hereafter the nature of cognition is discussed.

VII

Essentials are comprehended in the same particle, and are thus concomitant, and related in different particles, and are thus correlative. As particle is related to particle, so unit is related to unit, extension to extension, speed to speed, and persistence to persistence. Now we have discovered another property in bodies, which we have found in inanimate bodies as affinity or choice, and in animate bodies as consciousness and choice. There can be no choice without consciousness. Consciousness is to choice what unity is to plurality, what extension is to position, what speed is to path, and what persistence is to change; that is, consciousness is the absolute, choice is the relative.

Thus for every absolute we find a relative; for every constant a variable. Unity as an absolute has plurality for its relative; extension as an absolute has position for its relative; speed as an absolute has path as its relative; persistence as an absolute has change for its relative, and consciousness as an absolute has choice for its relative.

Unity and plurality constitute number, the unity being absolute and constant, while plurality is related and variable; this is the fundamental definition of number.

Space is composed of extension and position, the extension being absolute and constant, the position relative and variable. This is the fundamental definition of space.

Motion is speed and path, the speed being absolute and constant, the change relative and variable; this is the fundamental definition of motion.

Time is persistence and change, the persistence being absolute and constant, the change relative and variable; this is the fundamental definition of time.

Judgment is consciousness and choice, the consciousness being absolute and the choice relative; this is the fundamental definition of judgment.

Let us further consider these properties to bring out another phase of the subject. Unity is the substrate, foundation, ground or condition of plurality, for without units there can be no pluralities. Unity, therefore, is independent of plurality, but plurality is dependent on unity. There are many particles that have extension or space occupancy; thus there are many positions. Extension is the substrate, foundation or ground of position, for the several positions depend on the several units having extensions that exclude one another in the occupancy of space. Speed is the substrate, foundation, or ground of path, for every speed produces a path, or in other terms, every path is dependent on a speed. Every unit having extension and speed has persistent duration; but as these units change in position and also change in trajectory, they could not change if there were not something that persisted through change. Persistence, therefore, is the substrate, foundation or ground of change. Consciousness is the substrate or ground of choice, for if there is no consciousness there can be no choice. Thus it is that in every one of the properties there is a substrate or a support and that which is supported, or, in other terms, a ground and that which is grounded, or in still other terms, a foundation and that which is founded, and finally an independent and a dependent. This is but another way of saying that in every one of the properties there is a substrate and a dependent. The substrates are unity, dimension, speed, persistence and consciousness; the dependents are plurality, position, path, change, and choice.

It will be seen that we can call a particle a unit or we may call it an extension, or a speed, or a persistence, or a consciousness, and these several names refer to the same particle because it has the five concomitant essentials.

In the foregoing presentation the nature of the properties has been deduced from knowledge, with which every intelligent person is possessed, and which rests upon the experience of the race. No recondite induction or deduction has been necessary, but only the statement of known facts in proper sequence has been required to understand the nature of the five properties, except in the case of judgment, which is made analogous by hypothesis.

This is the result at which we have arrived in the foregoing discussion.

One particle by itself has unity, extension, motion, persistence, and if animate, judgment; but by reason of others it has plurality, position, path, change and choice. What it has by itself we call its essential concomitants; what it has by reason of others we call its relations. Concomitants with relations we call properties, and as the essentials are concomitant the properties are concomitant; hence the number cannot be absorbed by one, the space by a second, the motion by a third, the time by a fourth, and the judgment by a fifth. Properties, then, are concomitant and relational.

The theory of hylozoism, which I have presented in this chapter, is very old, and has had many illustrious champions. When alchemy was developed into chemistry a great impetus was given to it. The discovery by Darwin and the masterly advocacy of evolution by Spencer, through which the doctrine of the survival of the fittest was established, for a time gave a decided check to the theory. The blow struck by Spencer was especially efficient, for Spencer resolved all of the properties into force with a clearness which left no room to doubt his meaning.

A host of scientific men following Darwin and accepting the doctrine of the survival of the fittest have found it to be inadequate as a single theory of evolution. There are other laws, especially one expounded by Lamarck. I myself have set forth a new doctrine of evolution as that of culture, and in a subsequent chapter of this work I shall set forth the doctrine of evolution in which I shall attempt to prove that the fundamental law of evolution is the law of affinity by which bodies are incorporated, and hence that evolution is primarily telic.

In the five fundamental realms of nature, ethereal particles are numerically related and numbers are organized. Stellar particles are related in numbers and forms, and forms are organized. In geonomic bodies forces as well as forms and kinds are organized. In plants causations are organized as generations as well as forces and forms and kinds. In animals concepts are organized as well as causations, forces, forms and kinds. In every one of these systems there is a special differentiation and integration of organs; so the entire body is organized in a hierarchy of organs. This may be stated in another way. In ethereal bodies, which are probably ultimate particles themselves, numbers are organized. In the stars numbers and spaces are organized. In the geonomic bodies numbers, spaces, and motions are organized. In plants numbers, spaces, motions and times are organized. In animals numbers, spaces, motions, times, and judgments are organized. Or again, it may be stated in another way. In ethereal bodies units are organized. In stellar bodies units and extensions are organized. In geonomic bodies units, extensions and speeds are organized. In plants units, extensions, speeds and persistences are organized. In animals units, extensions, speeds, persistences and the consciousness of many particles are organized. While every particle in the universe has consciousness and choice and hence judgment, it is only in animals that we find judgments organized as concepts. Only animals have reason.

The various doctrines of hylozoism heretofore presented in the history of philosophy, consciousness and reason have been confounded. The terms mind and reason are nearly synonymous. Reasoning is a process, as we shall hereafter show, and mind is that which reasons. Thus these two terms refer to the same thing, the one when it is considered as a process of an organism, the other considering it as an organism. Reason is a function of animal organism. Every particle has consciousness, only animals have reason.