phenomena of every kind—viz., the kinetic theory, which ascribes everything in nature to the movements of particles, molecules, or atoms.
The living and the physical orders are here reduced to one unique order, because all the phenomena of the sensible universe are themselves reduced to one and the same mechanics, and are represented by means of the atom and of motion. This conception of the world, which was that of the philosophers of the Ionic school in the remotest antiquity, which was modified later by Descartes and Leibniz, has passed into modern science under the name of the kinetic theory. The mechanics of atoms ponderable or imponderable, would contain the explanation of all phenomenality. If it were a question of physical properties or vital manifestations, the objective world in final analysis would offer us nothing but motion. Every phenomenon would be expressed by an atomistic integral, and that is the inner reason of the majestic unity which reigns in modern physics. The forces which are brought into play by Life are no longer to be distinguished in this ultimate analysis from other natural forces. All are blended in molecular mechanics.
The philosophical value of this theory is undeniable. It has exercised on physical science an influence which is justified by the discoveries which it has suggested. But to biology, on the other hand, it has lent no aid. It is precisely because it descends too deeply into things, and analyzes them to the uttermost, that it ceases to throw any light upon them. The distance between the hypothetical atom and the apparent and concrete fact is too great for the one to be able to throw light on the other The vital phenomenon
