The Breath of Life

by John Burroughs

• Darwin, Charles, quoted, [9];
  • on force of growing radicles, [19];
  • a contradiction in his philosophy, [254], [255].

• Electricity, in the constitution of matter, [46]-[49];
  • a state of the ether, [63];
  • power from, [67], [68];
  • the most mysterious thing in inorganic nature, [223].
• Electrons, knots in the ether, [63];
  • size and weight, [196];
  • speed, [197];
  • matter dematerialized, [197];
  • bombardment from, [201], [202];
  • revolving in the atom, [203];
  • surface, [203];
  • compared with atoms, [203];
  • properties of matter supplied by, [204].
• Elements, of living bodies, [38], [39], [77], [78];
  • analogy with the alphabet, [57]-[59], [206];
  • undergoing spontaneous change, [67];
  • various combinations, [205]-[208];
  • eagerness to combine, [209].
  • See also Atoms.
• Eliot, George, on the development theory, [103].
• Elliot, Hugh S. R., on mechanism, [16].
• Emerson, Ralph Waldo, [250];
  • on physics and chemistry, [188];
  • quoted, [280].
• Energy, relation of life to, [177]-[183];
  • atomic, [204].
  • See also Creative energy and Force.
• Energy, biotic, [106]-[111], [145], [146].
• England, [250].
• Entities, [99], [100].
• Environment, [86]-[88].
• Enzymes, [167].
• Ether, the, omnipresent and all-powerful, [61], [62];
  • its nature, [62], [63];
  • its finite character, [65], [66];
  • paradoxes of, [66].
• Ethics, and the mechanistic conception, [12].
• Evolution, creative impulse in, [6], [111];
  • progression in, [13], [14];
  • and the arrival of the fit, [244]-[253];
  • creative, [251]-[253];
  • evolution of life bound up with the evolution of the world, [281]-[283];
  • creative protoplasm in, [286];
  • a cosmic view of, [289].
• Explosives, [43].

• Fire, chemistry of, [54].
• Fiske, John, on the soul and immortality, [4];
  • on the physical and the psychical, [75], [183].
• Fittest, arrival and survival of the, [244]-[253].
• Force, physical and mental, [3]-[5];
  • and life, [17]-[23];
  • dissymmetric force, [22];
  • the origin of matter, [43], [44].
  • See also Energy.

• Galls, [147], [154]-[156].
• Ganong, William Francis, on life, [181].
• Germany, in the War of 1914, [249]-[251].
• Glaser, Otto C., quoted, [98].
• Goethe, quoted, [111], [221], [260], [280];
  • as a scientific man, [221].
• Gotch, Prof., quoted, [270].
• Grafting, [40], [41].
• Grand Cañon of the Colorado, [225], [228], [229].
• Grape sugar, [208].
• Growth, of a germ, [217], [218].

• Haeckel, Ernst, [3], [285];
  • on physical activity in the atom, [25], [26];
  • his "living inorganics," [91];
  • on the origin of life, [161];
  • on inheritance and adaptation, [184];
  • his "plastidules," [217];
  • a contradiction in his philosophy, [256].
• Hartog, Marcus, [129].
• Heat, changes wrought by, [55], [56];
  • detection of, at a distance, [60].
• Helmholtz, Hermann von, on life, [25], [161].
• Henderson, Lawrence J., his "Fitness of the Environment," [73];
  • his concession to the vitalists, [83], [85];
  • on the environment, [86]-[88];
  • a thorough mechanist, [88], [89].
• Horse-power, [177], [178].
• Hudson River, "blossoming of the water," [283].
  • Huxley, Thomas Henry, on the
  • properties of protoplasm, [31], [126], [127];
  • on consciousness, [95], [181], [262];
  • on the vital principle, [101], [126], [127], [140];
  • his three realities, [140];
  • a contradiction in his philosophy, [255], [256].
• Hydrogen, the atom of, [65].

• Idealist, view of life, [218]-[222].
• Inorganic world, beauty in decay in, [228], [229].
• Intelligence, characteristic of living matter, [134], [139], [151]-[154];
  • pervading organic nature, [223].
• Irritability, degrees of, [216], [217].

• James, William, [254].

• Kant, Immanuel, quoted, [221].
• Kelvin, Lord, [83].
• King, Starr, [244].

• Lankester, Sir Edwin Ray, quoted, [128], [141];
  • his "plasmogen," [145], [146].
• Le Dantec, Félix Alexandre, his "Nature and Origin of Life," [73], [79], [80];
  • on consciousness, [80];
  • on the artificial production of the cell, [83];
  • on the mechanism of the body, [224].
• Leduc, Stephane, his "osmotic growths," [167], [168].
• Liebig, Baron Justus von, quoted, [83].
• Life, may be a mode of motion, [5];
  • evolution of, [6];
  • its action on matter, [8], [9];
  • its physico-chemical origin, [9];
  • its appearance viewed as accidental, [10]-[14];
  • Bergson's view, [14]-[17], [27]-[29];
  • Sir Oliver Lodge's view, [17], [18];
  • and energy, [17]-[23];
  • theories as to its origin, [24]-[27];
  • Tyndall's view, [28]-[30];
  • Verworn's view, [30], [31];
  • the vitalistic view, [32]-[38];
  • matter as affected by, [39];
  • not to be treated mathematically, [40];
  • a slow explosion, [41], [42];
  • an insoluble mystery, [43], [44];
  • relations with the psychic and the inorganic, [44], [45];
  • compared with fire, [54], [55];
  • the final mystery of, [69], [70];
  • vitalistic and mechanistic views, [71]-[114];
  • Benjamin Moore's view, [106]-[113];
  • the theory of derivation from other spheres, [104];
  • spontaneous generation, [105];
  • plays a small part in the cosmic scheme, [115]-[119];
  • mystery of, [120];
  • nature merciless towards, [120]-[124];
  • as an entity, [124]-[130];
  • evanescent character, [131], [132];
  • Prof. Schäfer's view, [133]-[138];
  • intelligence the characteristic of, [134], [139], [151]-[154];
  • power of adaptation, [147]-[149];
  • versatility, [155], [156];
  • the fields of science and philosophy in dealing with, [161]-[166], [173]-[176];
  • simulation of, [167], [168];
  • and protoplasm, [169];
  • and the cell, [170];
  • variability, [171], [172];
  • the biogenetic law, [174];
  • relation to energy, [177]-[183];
  • an x-entity, [181], [182];
  • struggle with environment, [185], [186];
  • as a chemical phenomenon, [187];
  • inadequacy of the mechanistic view, [212]-[243];
  • degrees of, [216], [217];
  • arises, not comes, [230];
  • a metaphysical problem, [231];
  • as a wave, [231];
  • its adaptability, [253];
  • a vitalistic view, [254]-[289];
  • naturalness of, [263]-[268];
  • advent and disappearance, [268], [269];
  • the unscientific view, [274], [275];
  • analogy with the question of perpetual motion, [277], [278];
  • no great gulf between animate and inanimate, [285];
  • a cosmic view, [289].
  • See also Living thing, Vital force, Vitalism, Vitality.
• Light, measuring its speed, [60].
• Liquids, molecular behavior, [200].
• Living thing, not a machine, [1]-[3], [212]-[214];
  • viewed as a machine, [34]-[37], [224]-[228];
  • a unit, [215];
  • adaptation, [215], [216];
  • contrasted and compared with a machine, [241], [242].
• Lodge, Sir Oliver, [183], [197];
  • his view of life, [17], [18], [34], [132], [161], [219], [237];
  • his vein of mysticism, [34];
  • on the ether, [62], [63], [66];
  • on molecular spaces, [65];
  • on radium, [201];
  • on the atom, [203];
  • on electrons, [203].
• Loeb, Jacques, on mechanism, [10]-[13], [73];
  • his experiments, [74], [76], [79], [147];
  • on variations, [148].

• Machines, Nature's and man's, [224]-[226];
  • contrasted and compared with living bodies, [241], [242].
• Maeterlinck, Maurice, on the Spirit of the Hive, [82].
• Man, evolution of, [246]-[251];
  • as the result of chance, [255];
  • as a part of the natural order, [258], [259];
  • his little day, [269].
• Matter, as acted upon by life, [8], [9];
  • creative energy immanent in, [9];
  • change upon entry of life, [39];
  • constitution of, [43], [44], [46]-[48];
  • a state of the ether, [63];
  • changes in, [131], [133];
  • Emerson on, [188];
  • discrete, [196];
  • emanations detected by smell and taste, [198], [199];
  • a hole in the ether, [203];
  • origin of its properties, [204]-[206];
  • a higher conception of, [259]-[261];
  • common view of grossness of, [274], [275].
• Maxwell, James Clerk, on the ether, [63];
  • on atoms, [198].
• Mechanism, the scientific explanation of mind, [5];
  • and ethics, [12];
  • reaction against, [32];
  • definition, [72];
  • Prof. Henderson's view, [88], [89];
  • vs. vitalism, [212]-[243].
  • See also Life.
• Metaphysics, necessity of, [101].
• Micellar strings, [217].
• Microbalance, [60].
• Mind, evolution of, [287], [288].
  • See also Intelligence.
• Molecules, spaces between, [65], [196];
  • speed, [192];
  • unchanging character, [205], [206].
• Monera, [285].
• Moore, Benjamin, a scientific vitalist, [106];
  • his "biotic energy," [106]-[113], [145], [146].
• Morgan, Thomas Hunt, [148].
• Motion, perpetual, [190], [191], [278];
  • mass and molecular, [269], [270].