THE

STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE SCIENCE.

VI.

physiological identity between mineral, vegetable, animal, and man shows itself, as we have already seen from Professor Bose's researches, in the similarity of the responsive phenomena elicited from inorganic and from organic tissues by the same kind of stimulus. From this simple, basic physiological reaction which is common to all the kingdoms in Nature, the more highly evolved or more complex physiological reactions met with in nature can all be obtained. The physiology of nerve tissue seemed to be an exception, because nerve was long regarded as non-motile and its responses as characteristically different from those of muscle. But in his third book, Comparative Electro-Physiology, which has recently been published, Professor Jagadish Chandra Bose has successfully demonstrated that the characteristic variations in the response of nerve are, generally speaking, similar to those of muscle. This discovery is extremely valuable, for it enables us to trace the evolutionary progress of physiological functions met with in the nervous system. For the details of these researches I must refer the student to Professor Bose's book. He shows us that the nervous impulse which forms the basis of sensation is attended by change of form. He shows also that this wave of nerve-disturbance, instead of being single, is of two different kinds, "in which fact lies the significance of the two different qualities or tones of sensation " says Professor Bose-of that which in Psychology are generally termed pleasurable and painful. By means of his Oscillating Recorder, he has demonstrated that the responses of the afferent (ie., sensory) nerves are in every way the same as those of the efferent (ie., motor) nerves. This result is especially interesting in view of the fact that the Samskṛt books speak of ten true centres or Inḍriyas, viz., five sense-centres or Jñanendriyas and five motorcentres or Karmendriyas. The former centres govern and have as their organs the eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin; the latter govern and have as their organs the hands, feet, voice, generative and excretory organs.* Western books speak of the five sense-centresthose of the eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin; but do not yet know the

*See Advanced Text Book of Hinḍū Religion and Ethics, pp. 151, 152.

or

five motor-centres which are recognised in Eastern physiology. The researches of Professor Bose, which show that the responses of sensory and motor nerves are in every way the same afford evidence of the truth of this ancient teaching of the Samskṛt books. Two other results may here be mentioned because of their practical bearings in medicine, especially as regards nerve diseases disorders. "It is customary to suppose that the nerve is indefatigable," but Professor Bose demonstrates that the conductivity of a nerve is liable to fatigue, and that its excitability is liable to fatigue. He demonstrates that nerve, which is regarded as a conductor, par excellence, will sometimes become a non-conductor. His researches prove that "conduction is not alone dependent on anatomical structure, but requires also a certain molecular condition. A nerve whose continuity remains uninterrupted may undergo paralysis and cease to conduct. Recovery may then, in many instances, be brought about by tetanisation".*

An interesting question suggests itself with regard to this cessation of conduction in nerve tissue, which is brought about by a changed molecular condition of the nerve-substance. Is this change in molecular condition the change which the student of yoga learns to control and to bring about temporarily when he desires to close the ordinary outer avenues of his senses against physical impacts in order that his true nerve-centres or Indriyas may remain undisturbed by these outer physical impacts and be available for use on the inner planes ? The recovery from paralysis, which may sometimes be brought about by tetanisation, suggests that such recovery is due to a re-opening of some outer avenues to his Indriyas which were closed by disease, i.e., by the changed molecular condition set up by the disease. In both cases, the result is the same-namely, a changed molecular condition which prevents the nerves from continuing to act as conductors; but in paralysis, this changed molecular condition is the result of disease, and is brought about independently of the will of the sick person, whereas in yoga practice this changed molecular condition is the result of meditation and is brought about by the will of the healthy person. The re-opening of the outer avenues by tetanisation, i. e., by vibrations imposed upon the paralysed nerves suggests that the open*Bose's Comparative Electro-Physiology, p. 530.

ing up of the inner avenues which lead to the same true centres or Indriyas is accomplished in the same way, i. e., by vibrations imposed upon the nerve structures which the yoga student seeks to open up for the receipt of the mental impacts that come from the mental world, or mental plane on which he is learning to function consciously. The process is similar to that by which the babe and child learn to function consciously on the physical plane. The physical impacts open up the outer avenues or paths to the Indriyas of the child, both sensory and motor, and by degrees he learns to control them more or less.

Let us leave now the physiological evolution of these four kingdoms, and turn to their physical and to their chemical evolution, Much work has been done along both these lines by Western Scientists. Professor Haeckel, Professor Huxley, and most Zoologists, have devoted themselves almost exclusively to the physical evolution of animal and human forms. Botanists have done the same for the vegetable kingdom, and crystallographers and mineralogists for the mineral kingdom. I would recommend students to read the excellent article by Edmund B. Wilson in the Journal of Morphology (vol. vi., 1892), entitled "the Cell-Lineage of Nereis." In this article the writer traces the life history or development of a small worm which is called Nereis; and shows us that "the cleavage of the ovum takes place with a precision and regularity which oft-repeated examination only renders more striking and wonderful ", and that the entire development of Nereis" gives the impression of a strictly ordered and predetermined series of events, in which every cell-division plays a definite rōle and has a fixed relation to all that precedes and follows it." These words express briefly but adequately the conclusions reached by all investigators into the developmental history of plant and animal forms. I need not detail the facts, for they are familiar to all students of biology and can be studied in any biological work. Those who are not students of biology can get a very good idea of the nature of this development if they read Wilson's article on CellLineage. A similar strictly ordered series of events is met with in the mineral kingdom. The best books to consult on this subject are Dana's Mineralogy, and Lord Kelvin's The Molecular Tactics of a Crystal. By regarding every crystal as an assemblage of small bodies or molecules, which he compares to an assemblage of people, Lord Kelvin shows us how a homogeneous assemblage of people will, of

necessity, be a rectangular grouped assemblage, and-similarly-how a homogeneous assemblage of molecules will be a rectangular grouped assemblage or a rectangular crystal. Next, he imagines a homogeneous assemblage of people in tiers, i.e., arranged in the three directions of space, and he shows us that this threedimensionally grouped assemblage will of necessity be a tetrahedrally grouped assemblage, in which the central individual will have at least twelve differently placed, inter-related neighbors. Similarly, a homogeneous assemblage of molecules in three-dimensional space will be a tetrahedrally-grouped assemblage, a tetrahedron or tetrahedrally-formed crystal. He shows that if an assemblage of wooden balls be thus tetrahedrally grouped, the resulting form or crystal is shaped like a mulberry. This is very suggestive and throws light on the well-known fact that in the development of animals, the round cells which are first formed present the appearance of a mulberry or 'morula'. By adding more molecules to this crystal form, each additional molecule, or ball, being placed in such a position that it bears the same relation to the adjacent molecules of the crystal which they bear to one another, Lord Kelvin points out that we "can build up any possible form of crystal of the class called cubic by some, and octohedral by others." By an ingenious mechanical contrivance, Lord Kelvin shows how other geometrical forms are built up by varying the relative lengths of the geometrical lines and angles. The similarity of the geometrical figures which determine the form and physical evolution of mineral, vegetable, animal, and human bodies is the feature which is common to all physical forms, and it affords additional proof of the identity, as regards the essentials, in their mode of development. However different the outer form may be, owing to ever-increasing complexities, yet the same geometrical figures underlie the simplest and the most complex. The 'ground-plan' is the same for all the kingdoms of nature, and gives proof of the unity of all nature, inorganic and organic.

Let us now leave the physical evolution and turn our attention to the chemical evolution of which Madame Blavatsky speaks. This seems to be based upon what has been termed by Pasteur asymmetry in contradistinction to the 'symmetry' upon which the physical evolution or building up of all forms depends. The subject is of special interest at the present time, because of the flood of light which is thrown on it

by the chemical researches of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, which are described in Mrs. Besant's articles on "Occult Chemistry." In vol. 68 of Nature, on pp. 280-283, there is a lecture delivered by Professor William J. Pope, at the Royal Insititution on May 1st 1903, which is worth reading. It is called "Recent Advances in Stereo-Chemistry," and briefly outlines the main historical facts which are as follows: In 1803 John Dalton put forward his atomic theory upon which the whole superstructure of modern chemistry has been built. He assumed that every chemical element is made up of homogeneous atoms and that chemical compounds are formed by the union of the various chemical elements in simple numerical proportions-hence the idea that a chemical substance is characterised by constancy of molecular composition. Later, however, it was discovered that chemical substances existed which possessed totally different properties, though their molecular composition was the same. The further assumption was therefore made that the same atoms in chemical substances might be differently grouped, and thus give rise to the differences that had been noted. Thus, the theory that chemical substances are characterised by a definite molecular composition, was enriched by adding to it the idea that they were also characterised by a definite molecular constitution or arrangement of their atoms into distinctive groups. For example a substance with the molecular composition C2 H6 O might have one or other of two groupings or constitutions. Its atoms might be grouped either as CH, CH, O or as CH, CH2 HO. The former is a gas called methyl ether, the latter is a liquid called ethyl alcohol. Such substances are said to be 'isomeric." The formula C2 H6 O represents the molecular composition of methyl ether and also of ethyl alcohol; while the formulæ CH, CH, O and CH, CH, OH represent the molecular constitutions of these two isomers. In 1870, Wislicenus showed that three isomeric lactic acids existed, all three having the molecular composition C, H, 03, and that the method of writing constitutional formulæ was insufficient to represent this fact. Four years later, Van't Hoff and Le Bel pointed out that the weakness of this method of writing constitutional formulæ lay in the assumption that the atoms and molecules were spread out upon a plane surface (in two-dimensional space), and that "by taking a rational view of the way in which the molecule is extended in threedimensional space, all difficulties vanish." Thus was born what is ter

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