Post 00717
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I began by saying that there were three kinds of changes in matter–the physical, the chemical, and the vital. But if we follow up this idea and declare that there are three kinds of force also, claiming this distinction for the third term of our proposition, we shall be running counter to the main current of recent biological science. “The idea that a peculiar ‘vital force’ acts in the chemistry of life,” says Professor Soddy, “is extinct.”
“Only chemical and physical agents influence the vital processes,” says Professor Czapek, of the University of Prague, “and we need no longer take refuge in mysterious ‘vital forces’ when we want to explain these.”
Tyndall was obliged to think of a force that guided the molecules of matter into the special forms of a tree. This force was in the ultimate particles of matter. But when he came to the brain and to consciousness, he said a new product appeared that defies mechanical treatment.