Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

The   Same Quantities As At Present. In Short, The

Meteorological Conditions Thousands Of    Miles Off, On All Sides, Would Be

More Or Less Revolutionised.

 

 

 

Thus, Without Taking Into Account The   Infinitude Of    Modifications Which

These Changes Of    Climate Would Produce Upon The   Flora And Fauna, Both Of

Land And Sea, The   Reader Will See The   Immense Heterogeneity Of    The

Results Wrought Out By One Force, When That Force Expends Itself Upon A

Previously Complicated Area; And He Will Readily Draw The   Corollary That

From The   Beginning The   Complication Has Advanced At An Increasing Rate.

 

 

 

Before Going On To Show How Organic Progress Also Depends Upon The

Universal Law That Every Force Produces More Than One Change, We Have

To Notice The   Manifestation Of    This Law In Yet Another Species Of

Inorganic Progress--Namely, Chemical. The   Same General Causes That Have

Wrought Out The   Heterogeneity Of    The   Earth, Physically Considered, Have

Simultaneously Wrought Out Its Chemical Heterogeneity. Without Dwelling

Upon The   General Fact That The   Forces Which Have Been Increasing The

Variety And Complexity Of    Geological Formations, Have, At The   Same Time,

Been Bringing Into Contact Elements Not Previously Exposed To Each Other

Under Conditions Favourable To Union, And So Have Been Adding To The

Number Of    Chemical Compounds, Let Us Pass To The   More Important

Complications That Have Resulted From The   Cooling Of    The   Earth.

 

 

 

There Is Every Reason To Believe That At An Extreme Heat The   Elements

Cannot Combine. Even Under Such Heat As Can Be Artificially Produced,

Some Very Strong Affinities Yield, As For Instance, That Of    Oxygen For

Hydrogen; And The   Great Majority Of    Chemical Compounds Are Decomposed At

Much Lower Temperatures. But Without Insisting Upon The   Highly Probable

Inference, That When The   Earth Was In Its First State Of    Incandescence

There Were No Chemical Combinations At All, It Will Suffice Our Purpose

To Point To The   Unquestionable Fact That The   Compounds That Can Exist At

The Highest Temperatures, And Which Must, Therefore, Have Been The   First

That Were Formed As The   Earth Cooled, Are Those Of    The   Simplest

Constitutions. The   Protoxides--Including Under That Head The   Alkalies,

Earths, Etc.--Are, As A Class, The   Most Stable Compounds We Know: Most

Of Them Resisting Decomposition By Any Heat We Can Generate. These,

Consisting Severally Of    One Atom Of    Each Component Element, Are

Combinations Of    The   Simplest Order--Are But One Degree Less Homogeneous

Than The   Elements Themselves. More Heterogeneous Than These, Less

Stable, And Therefore Later In The   Earth's History, Are The   Deutoxides,

Tritoxides, Peroxides, Etc.; In Which Two, Three, Four, Or More Atoms Of

Oxygen Are United With One Atom Of    Metal Or Other Element. Higher Than

These In Heterogeneity Are The   Hydrates; In Which An Oxide Of    Hydrogen,

United With An Oxide Of    Some Other Element, Forms A Substance Whose

Atoms Severally Contain At Least Four Ultimate Atoms Of    Three Different

Kinds. Yet More Heterogeneous And Less Stable Still Are The   Salts; Which

Present Us With Compound Atoms Each Made Up Of    Five, Six, Seven, Eight,

Ten, Twelve, Or More Atoms, Of    Three, If Not More, Kinds. Then There Are

The Hydrated Salts, Of    A Yet Greater Heterogeneity, Which Undergo

Partial Decomposition At Much Lower Temperatures. After Them Come The

Further-Complicated Supersalts And Double Salts, Having A Stability

Again Decreased; And So Throughout. Without Entering Into Qualifications

For Which We Lack Space, We Believe No Chemist Will Deny It To Be A

General Law Of    These Inorganic Combinations That, _Other Things Equal_,

The Stability Decreases As The   Complexity Increases.

 

 

 

And Then When We Pass To The   Compounds Of    Organic Chemistry, We Find

This General Law Still Further Exemplified: We Find Much Greater

Complexity And Much Less Stability. An Atom Of    Albumen, For Instance,

Consists Of    482 Ultimate Atoms Of    Five Different Kinds. Fibrine, Still

More Intricate In Constitution, Contains In Each Atom, 298 Atoms Of

Carbon, 40 Of    Nitrogen, 2 Of    Sulphur, 228 Of    Hydrogen, And 92 Of

Oxygen--In All, 660 Atoms; Or, More Strictly Speaking--Equivalents. And

These Two Substances Are So Unstable As To Decompose At Quite Ordinary

Temperatures; As That To Which The   Outside Of    A Joint Of    Roast Meat Is

Exposed. Thus It Is Manifest That The   Present Chemical Heterogeneity Of

The Earth's Surface Has Arisen By Degrees, As The   Decrease Of    Heat Has

Permitted; And That It Has Shown Itself In Three Forms--First, In The

Multiplication Of    Chemical Compounds; Second, In The   Greater Number Of

Different Elements Contained In The   More Modern Of    These Compounds: And

Third, In The   Higher And More Varied Multiples In Which These More

Numerous Elements Combine.

 

 

 

To Say That This Advance In Chemical Heterogeneity Is Due To The   One

Cause, Diminution Of    The   Earth's Temperature, Would Be To Say Too Much;

For It Is Clear That Aqueous And Atmospheric Agencies Have Been

Concerned; And, Further, That The   Affinities Of    The   Elements Themselves

Are Implied. The   Cause Has All Along Been A Composite One: The   Cooling

Of The   Earth Having Been Simply The   Most General Of    The   Concurrent

Causes, Or Assemblage Of    Conditions. And Here, Indeed, It May Be

Remarked That In The   Several Classes Of    Facts Already Dealt With

Part 2 Chapter 1 (Progress Its Law And Cause) Pg 75

Excepting, Perhaps, The   First), And Still More In Those With Which We

Shall Presently Deal, The   Causes Are More Or Less Compound; As Indeed

Are Nearly All Causes With Which We Are Acquainted. Scarcely Any Change

Can With Logical Accuracy Be Wholly Ascribed To One Agency, To The

Neglect Of    The   Permanent Or Temporary Conditions Under Which Only This

Agency Produces The   Change. But As It Does Not Materially Affect Our

Argument, We Prefer, For Simplicity's Sake, To Use Throughout The

Popular Mode Of    Expression.

 

 

 

Perhaps It Will Be Further Objected, That To Assign Loss Of    Heat As The

Cause Of    Any Changes, Is To Attribute These Changes Not To A Force, But

To The   Absence Of    A Force. And This Is True. Strictly Speaking, The

Changes Should Be Attributed To Those Forces Which Come Into Action When

The Antagonist Force Is Withdrawn. But Though There Is An Inaccuracy In

Saying That The   Freezing Of    Water Is Due To The   Loss Of    Its Heat, No

Practical Error Arises From It; Nor Will A Parallel Laxity Of    Expression

Vitiate Our Statements Respecting The   Multiplication Of    Effects. Indeed,

The Objection Serves But To Draw Attention To The   Fact, That Not Only

Does The   Exertion Of    A Force Produce More Than One Change, But The

Withdrawal Of    A Force Produces More Than One Change. And This Suggests

That Perhaps The   Most Correct Statement Of    Our General Principle Would

Be Its Most Abstract Statement--Every Change Is Followed By More Than

One Other Change.

 

 

 

Returning To The   Thread Of    Our Exposition, We Have Next To Trace Out, In

Organic Progress, This Same All-Pervading Principle. And Here, Where The

Evolution Of    The   Homogeneous Into The   Heterogeneous Was First Observed,

The Production Of    Many Changes By One Cause Is Least Easy To

Demonstrate. The   Development Of    A Seed Into A Plant, Or An Ovum Into An

Animal, Is So Gradual, While The   Forces Which Determine It Are So

Involved, And At The   Same Time So Unobtrusive, That It Is Difficult To

Detect The   Multiplication Of    Effects Which Is Elsewhere So Obvious.

Nevertheless, Guided By Indirect Evidence, We May Pretty Safely Reach

The Conclusion That Here Too The   Law Holds.

 

 

 

Observe, First, How Numerous Are The   Effects Which Any Marked Change

Works Upon An Adult Organism--A Human Being, For Instance. An Alarming

Sound Or Sigh, Besides The   Impressions On The   Organs Of    Sense And The

Nerves, May Produce A Start, A Scream, A Distortion Of    The   Face, A

Trembling Consequent Upon A General Muscular Relaxation, A Burst Of

Perspiration, An Excited Action Of    The   Heart, A Rush Of    Blood To The

Brain, Followed Possibly By Arrest Of    The   Heart's Action And By Syncope:

And If The   System Be Feeble, An Indisposition With Its Long Train Of

Complicated Symptoms May Set In. Similarly In Cases Of    Disease. A Minute

Portion Of    The   Small-Pox Virus Introduced Into The   System, Will, In A

Severe Case, Cause, During The   First Stage, Rigors, Heat Of    Skin,

Accelerated Pulse, Furred Tongue, Loss Of    Appetite, Thirst, Epigastric

Uneasiness, Vomiting, Headache, Pains In The   Back And Limbs, Muscular

Weakness, Convulsions, Delirium, Etc.; In The   Second Stage, Cutaneous

Eruption, Itching, Tingling, Sore Throat, Swelled Fauces, Salivation,

Cough, Hoarseness, Dyspnoea, Etc.; And In The   Third Stage,

Oedematous Inflammations, Pneumonia, Pleurisy, Diarrhoea,

Inflammation Of    The   Brain, Ophthalmia, Erysipelas, Etc.; Each Of    Which

Enumerated Symptoms Is Itself More Or Less Complex. Medicines, Special

Foods, Better Air, Might In Like Manner Be Instanced As Producing

Multiplied Results.

 

 

 

Now It Needs Only To Consider That The   Many Changes Thus Wrought By One

Force Upon An Adult Organism, Will Be In Part Paralleled In An Embryo

Organism, To Understand How Here Also, The   Evolution Of    The   Homogeneous

Into The   Heterogeneous May Be Due To The   Production Of    Many Effects By

One Cause. The   External Heat And Other Agencies Which Determine The

First Complications Of    The   Germ, May, By Acting Upon These, Superinduce

Further Complications; Upon These Still Higher And More Numerous Ones;

And So On Continually: Each Organ As It Is Developed Serving, By Its

Actions And Reactions Upon The   Rest, To Initiate New Complexities. The

First Pulsations Of    The   Foetal Heart Must Simultaneously Aid The

Unfolding Of    Every Part. The   Growth Of    Each Tissue, By Taking From The

Blood Special Proportions Of    Elements, Must Modify The   Constitution Of

The Blood; And So Must Modify The   Nutrition Of    All The   Other Tissues.

The Heart's Action, Implying As It Does A Certain Waste, Necessitates An

Addition To The   Blood Of    Effete Matters, Which Must Influence The   Rest

Of The   System, And Perhaps, As Some Think, Cause The   Formation Of

Excretory Organs. The   Nervous Connections Established Among The   Viscera

Must Further Multiply Their Mutual Influences: And So Continually.

 

 

 

Still Stronger Becomes The   Probability Of    This View When We Call To Mind

The Fact, That The   Same Germ May Be Evolved Into Different Forms

According To Circumstances. Thus, During Its Earlier Stages, Every

Embryo Is Sexless--Becomes Either Male Or Female As The   Balance Of

Forces Acting Upon It Determines. Again, It Is A Well-Established Fact

That The   Larva Of    A Working-Bee Will Develop Into A Queen-Bee, If,

Before It Is Too Late, Its Food Be Changed To That On Which The   Larvæ Of

Queen-Bees Are Fed. Even More Remarkable Is The   Case Of    Certain Entozoa.

The Ovum Of    A Tape-Worm, Getting Into Its Natural Habitat, The

Intestine, Unfolds Into The   Well-Known Form Of    Its Parent; But If

Carried, As It Frequently Is, Into Other Parts Of    The   System, It Becomes

A Sac-Like Creature, Called By Naturalists The   _Echinococcus_--A

Creature So Extremely Different From The   Tape-Worm In Aspect And

Structure, That Only After Careful Investigations Has It Been Proved To

Have The   Same Origin. All Which Instances Imply That Each Advance In

Embryonic Complication Results From The   Action Of    Incident Forces Upon

The Complication Previously Existing.

 

 

 

Indeed, We May Find _À Priori_ Reason To Think That The   Evolution

Proceeds After This Manner. For Since It Is Now Known That No Germ,

Animal Or Vegetable, Contains The   Slightest Rudiment, Trace, Or

Indication Of    The   Future Organism--Now That The   Microscope Has Shown Us

That The   First Process Set Up In Every Fertilised Germ, Is A Process Of

Repeated Spontaneous Fissions Ending In The   Production Of    A Mass Of

Cells, Not One Of    Which Exhibits Any Special Character: There Seems No

Alternative But To Suppose That The   Partial Organisation At Any Moment

Subsisting In A Growing Embryo, Is Transformed By The   Agencies Acting

Upon It Into The   Succeeding Phase Of    Organisation, And This Into The

Next, Until, Through Ever-Increasing Complexities, The   Ultimate Form Is

Reached. Thus, Though The   Subtilty Of    The   Forces And The   Slowness Of    The

Results, Prevent Us From _Directly_ Showing That The   Stages Of

Increasing Heterogeneity Through Which Every Embryo Passes, Severally

Arise From The   Production Of    Many Changes By One Force, Yet,

_Indirectly_, We Have Strong Evidence That They Do So.