with the results of
scientific biology. Not only is the mechanistic conception of life
compatible with ethics, it seems the only conception of life which can
lead to an understanding of the source of ethics."

I hope to have proved in this book that _scientific_ ethics is based on
natural laws for the human class of life; that it is based on the
experimentally proved fact that Man is a Time-binder, naturally active as
such in time; and that this concept or definition of Man is rigorously
scientific and accounts for the highest functions of man--the highest of
the mental and spiritual perfections--without the need of any
"_super_natural" hypothesis.

Scientific biology proves the fact that life and all of its phenomena are
the results of some special physico-chemical processes, which manifest
themselves in some peculiar energies, of which the human mind is the
highest known form. These processes are known to be reversible, in that
some of these peculiar energies cause physico-chemical changes in their
own base; the process involved I propose to call biolysis, as I propose to
call biolyte the substances produced. These phenomena have a parallel
analogy in inorganic chemistry--in electricity--the difference being only in
the scale or dimension. When an electric current is passed through a
special battery called an accumulator or reversible battery, chemical
changes occur, in that new compounds are formed which possess a reversible
capacity; namely, in reproducing the former materials--that is, electricity
is generated. This process of forming chemical substances by the passing
of an electrical current is called electrolysis and the product so
produced is called electrolyte. At the same time it is a known fact that
organic chemistry is infinitely more complicated and variable than
inorganic chemistry. The energy produced by the reactions of some organic
chemical groups are, therefore, of a more complicated character and of
another dimension. One of these energies of organic chemistry which lately
has come into the scope of scientific analysis is called life--its
physico-chemical base is the protoplasm, which _result_ I call the
"time-linking" capacity or energy. This name is important for the
consequences it will bring about later on. The time-binding capacity or
energy of man (no matter what time is--if it is), which is unique to man,
is a most subtle complex; it is the highest known energy and probably has
many subdivis