Picture - Cosmic Polymath

KANT'S AND SPENCER'S VIEWS OF MATTER AND FORCE 225
Cause, and design. The transition from the inorganic to the organic is not so direct and simple as some philo-
sophers and physicists endeavour to make out. This will be made abundantly clear by a consideration of the
exact meanings of the words homogeneous and heterogeneous, and of differentiation in relation to the latter.
The term homogeneous is derived from two Greek words, ofjiO'i, the same, and yevot;, race, family, kind. It means
of the same kind or nature ; essentially Uke ; having parts of only one kind ; said especially of parts of one whole ;
opposed to heterogeneous.
The term heterogeneous is also of Greek origin, being derived from 'irepo^, other, different, and -yeVo?, kind.
It signifies different in kind, unUke, incongruous ; having widely unlike elements or constituents ; opposed
to homogeneous.
The term differentiation is derived from the Latin differentia, difference. It primarily means the formation
of differences. It means secondarily, any change by which something homogeneous is made heterogeneous or hke
things are made unlike. It also signifies speciahsation of structure and function.
The vigorous attempts at generalisations made by Immanuel Kant and Herbert Spencer, supposed to explain
everything, in reality explain very httle.
Kant presupposes " an infinite expansion of formless and diffused matter " and the setting up of "a single
centre of attraction, which gradually reclaims more and more of the molecular waste, and converts chaos into cosmos,"
and Herbert Spencer takes for granted " an unceasing redistribution of matter and motion," and the conversion
of homogeneous substances into heterogeneous ones, and, conversely, of heterogeneous substances into homogeneous
ones. Both authors assume the existence of matter and force, and of a directive agency capable of converting
formless homogeneous substances into heterogeneous or differentiated substances. The question, Whence come the
matter and force and the directive agency has still to be answered.
Kant and Spencer, by assuming that the universe (inorganic and organic) is constructed out of a formless homo-
geneous mass, virtually ask Nature to make bricks without straw, inasmuch as the heterogeneous materials required
for constructing the inorganic and organic kingdoms, and which characterise them, are not forthcoming. They
practically ignore modern chemical analysis and the results obtained by the spectroscope, photography, the tele-
scope, and the microscope. If the universe is now composed of a large number of heterogeneous elements, it is
difficult to conceive that the elements did not exist in a potential or other form at the beginning. If only one kind
of matter is required to construct the inorganic and organic kingdoms, it follows that that matter must either have
enormous potentiahties, which imply differentiation, or it must, in ultimate composition, be incredibly multiple.
Heterogeneous substances, whether organic or inorganic, cannot possibly be produced from absolutely homogeneous
substances, whatever the surroundings and whatever the nature of the forces acting upon them. The unhke
and the Uke must be placed in different categories ; the one cannot, even by a process of legerdemain, be produced
from the other. Either a large number of different substances are required for the production of the different
parts of the universe, or the so-called homogeneous substances are complex and compound to an extent not yet
dreamt of.
The complexity in question is no doubt traceable to the atoms and molecules composing inorganic and organic
matter alike. Everything points to variety, and endless variety, in the atoms and molecules themselves. While
we have positively no knowledge of matter and force as ultimates, recent researches go to prove that the differences
and differentiations witnessed on all hands in dead inorganic matter and in hving organic matter are really present
in ultimate matter as such. If the differences which characterise primitive heterogeneous matter cannot be demon-
strated, neither can the sameness which characterises primitive homogeneous matter be made out.^ The con-
tinuity which is claimed for matter in the present day supports the idea of original differences, and the heterogeneous
substances in the universe as we know it greatly outnumber the homogeneous ones. If inorganic and organic
substances vary, and they do admittedly vary greatly, the primitive or ultimate matter from which both are formed
must also vary. Variabihty in ultimate matter would fully account for the occasionally conflicting results obtained
from the employment of chemical analysis, the spectroscope, microscope, telescope, and other means of research.
" To chemistry has been entrusted the task of tracking matter back to its simplest forms or form. The result
is remarkable so far as present knowledge goes. There are found a considerable number of substances (seventy-
five have already been discovered) which have defied all attempts to resolve them into further simpUcity. These
are also indestructible, passing scathless and invulnerable through every transformation. There is no apparent
tendency on their part to lose their peculiar properties or to pass one into the other ; although there are a few
1 Lord Kelvin, the greatest of physicists, in an eloquent speech delivered by him at the University of Glasgow in 1895, on the
occasion of his jubilee as Professor of Natural Philosophy, gave utterance to these remarkable words : " I know no more of electric and magnetic
force, or of the relation between ether, electricity, and ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than I knew and tried to teach my students of
natural jihilosophy fifty years ago, in my first session as professor."
VOL. I.
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