THE DYNAMIC ELEMENT IN LIFE 101

be affected." " This continuous correspondence
between inner and outer relations which constitutes
Life, and the perfection of which is the perfection of
Life, answers completely to that state of organic
moving equilibrium which arises in the course of
Evolution and tends ever to become more complete/'
The Dynamic Element in Life.—But Spencer was not
satisfied with his formula of Life. He recognised that
there were vital phenomena which were not covered
by it. The growth of a gall on a plant, due to
irritant substances produced by an insect, shows no
internal relations adjusted to external relations ; the
heart of a frog will live and beat for a long time after
excision; the segmentation of an egg shows no
correspondence with co-existences and sequences in
its environment; when rudimentary organs are partly
formed and then absorbed, no adjustment can be
alleged between the inner relations which these
present and any outer relations: the outer rela-
tions they refer to ceased millions of years ago; no
correspondence, or part of a correspondence, by
which inner actions are made to balance outer actions,
can be seen in the dairymaid's laugh or the workman's
whistle; the struggles of a boy in an epileptic fit
show no correspondence with the co-existences and
sequences around him, but they betray vitality as
much as do the changing movements of a hawk
pursuing a pigeon; " both exhibit that principle of
activity which constitutes the essential element in our
conception of life."

" When it is said that Life is the definite combination of
heterogeneous changes, both simultaneous and successive, in
correspondence with external co-existences and sequences, actions by which the organism canon of the activities. There are multitudinous metabolic changes