CHAPTER II

THE RELIGIOUS INSTINCTS

Difference between inorganic and organic substances-Mode in which life functionates-Life the assimilation and liberation of force-Organisms built on two types, the cellular and the axidal-The latter developed from the former-Advance in development when each pole assumes a distinct office-Position in the scale of beings determined by complexity in the differentiation of parts-Life demands a certain amount of consciousness-This consciousness the measure of development-Office of the senses-Perceptions of pleasure and pain limited to objects necessary for development-Development of consciousness in man necessitated by arrest in physical development-Man's sense of pleasure and pain extends to objects in no way affecting his physical well-being-Mental effort detrimental to physical perfection-Perception a resolution of force -The object of spiritual perception the development of spiritual life, not the progress of the species-The religious sentiment an expression of the spiritual instincts of humanity-An historical survey of these instincts will show in what direction man must seek his spiritual development.

ORGANISMS may be roughly distinguished from in

organic substances by the property of development. Inertness is the attribute of lifeless existences, and evolutive life of those which are organized; that is, in the former force is latent, in the latter it is developed.

Matter postulates space; for extension is a necessary property of matter. Life demands time, for duration is Inorganic substances are, organisms Chemical elements know no youth, no age.

a property of life.

become.

I.

Oxygen is the same to-day in every particular that it was yesterday, and will be to-morrow: to it, time is not. But life is a fountain of being, throwing up vital waves in rhythmic succession.

We do know that life is force, but we do not know that all force is life.

Certain inorganic structures grow, but their mode of growth is different from that of organisms. The crystal, for instance, is built up, but the force determining the crystal is a static force, whereas that developing the plant is clearly dynamic. The crystal, when its apex is formed, is complete for ever, and the force that erected it maintains the cohesion of the particles, and does nothing more; whereas the plant force thrusts forth living seeds to hand on life to another generation.

Life functionates in two ways, in the accumulation of force, and in liberation of force. This liberation takes place in two ways; in direct expenditure, or in transmission. Thus the plant by its centripetal power incorporates matter through its roots, and with matter, force; and by its centrifugal power expends it first in the evolution of leaf and flower, and then in the transfer of life to the seed.

An animal expends force in its quest for food, assimilates force through its nutriment, and propagates it through its offspring.

Growth is due to a surplusage of absorbent power over waste. Decay and death are due to the liberation of force more rapidly than the body can acquire it by assimilation. The exercise of muscle, nerve, and brain is a discharge of force.

The dynamic energy of life impels organisms to the development of the individual and the propagation of the species. For both purposes it accumulates force, and then

distributes it, first upon one point, and then upon the other. Bloom is the highest term of life reached by the flower. The rose is in its glory when covered with blossoms; after it has reached this climax, its individual life wastes; petals fall off, and leaves shrivel, for its force is turned on the transfer of life through the seeds in its scarlet pods.

Organisms are built upon two types,-about a centre, and about an axis; that is, force is concentrated on, and radiates from one point in cellular plants and cystic animalcules, whereas in trees and animals it operates along an axis, precipitating itself now on one pole and now on the other. The latter type is probably a development of the former. It is obvious that, when the accretive power is great, and the capability of the plant or animal. to expend it on individual expansion is limited, it must discharge its superabundant force and matter in some other way. An individual of the Foraminifera, genus Triloculina, has been observed to reproduce itself by protruding its sarcoid substance through the foramina of its shell, and floating away in the shape of minute independent granules, leaving the parent shell empty. Thus the life of one individual, having felt itself straitened within the calcareous shell of its own construction, subdivided itself into some forty or fifty separate centres of action. other Foraminifera present a different mode of reproduction. The primitive gelatinous grain secretes around itself a rigid envelope, and having grown too large for its habitation, it protrudes a portion of itself through one of the orifices, and forms a second segment. If by a process of spontaneous fission this portion becomes detached from the parent, it repeats the life and reproductive method of

But

the latter, and a series of monothalamous shells is the result. But if, by means of a sarcoid thread, the primitive segment maintains its connexion with its immediate offspring, a polythalamous shell is the result, and a compound form of life is presented in which the vital force acts from a succession of centres as numerous as are the buds successively protruded.

An advance is made in the mode of life when each of these centres assumes a different office; when, for instance, one becomes a force-absorbing centre, and another a force liberator. In the plant, the life acts along the axis of the structure; and though at every point it operates centripetally and centrifugally, yet at the roots the force-accumulating power is exhibited most prominently, and at the other extremity of the stalk is the chief expenditure of force. The process of nature in a tree is this. In spring, the root-fibres select from the soil those substances which are necessary for the well-being of the plant and convert them into a fluid, which ascends from the roots between the bark and the wood, gradually coagulating as it mounts. On reaching the leaves it gives off through the pores of one of the leaf-surfaces a gas, and inhaling another gas through the other surface, redescends the plant to the extremities of the roots, whose growth it determines.

The position of a plant or animal in the scale of beings is determined by the complexity in the differentiation of the parts. In the lowest forms of animal and vegetable life, every portion of the organism is equally fitted to act any part.

In the Protozoa, the lowest known form of animal life, those vital operations which we are accustomed to see carried on by elaborate apparatus, in the higher structures, have no special instruments provided for the performance

of distinct functions. "A little particle of apparently homogeneous jelly changes itself into a greater variety of form than the fabled Proteus, laying hold of its food without members, swallowing without a mouth, digesting it without a stomach, appropriating its nutritious material without absorbent vessels, feeling (if it has any power to do so) without nerves, multiplying itself without eggs." A polype may be sliced into fifty pieces, and each portion. will become a different animal; a fragment of begonia leaf planted in the soil, and kept at the requisite temperature, will take upon itself the functions of a seed, and will produce young plants.

"1

In the vertebrate animals, and in man especially, the differentiation is most complete. In man, the vital action. lies along an axis in which the kidneys, the stomach, the heart, and the brain, are the principal acquisitive and secretive cores. Each has a function peculiar to itself, which it does not share with any other, but all are bound together by a common necessity. The vital force may be directed on any one of these nodes, and set it in action, leaving the others partially quiescent. Thus, after a meal, the vital energy is occupied in the assimilation of food, and at that time the brain is deserted. If, immediately after a meal, intense mental exertion is required, the food remains undigested. We shall return to this point shortly.

It has been said above, that organized life has before it two clearly perceptible aims, the development of the individual, and the propagation of the kind.

Life having assimilated force, must liberate it. In order that it may assimilate and liberate matter and force, it needs a certain amount of consciousness. This may be

1 Dr. W. B. Carpenter: Introd. to the Study of Foraminifera; London,