APPENDIX V. THEORY OF LIFE 



r "PHE abstract of the paper on the theory of life, referred to on 

 ^ p. viii., is here reprinted because it still indicates the starting 

 point of the studies, the results of which are given in the current 

 volume. So little have we gained since 1879 in our comprehen- 

 sion of the basic phenomena of living things that were I to rewrite 

 the abstract in accordance with present knowledge I should not 

 change it essentially. The vitalistic hypothesis still seems to me 

 scientifically the best. 



ON THE CONDITIONS TO BE FILLED BY A THEORY OF LIFE. BY 

 CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT, of Boston, Mass. 



[ABSTRACT.] 



It has been so often asserted that the essential nature of life 

 cannot be discovered by man, that the remark has become 

 commonplace. It would seem that this assertion is merely the 

 assumption of haste, and is based only upon our present igno- 

 rance of vital properties. It should rather be said that the main 

 object of all botanical and zoological studies is ultimately to dis- 

 cover the vital principle. The conviction that such is the end of 

 biological research has led me for several years past to endeavour 

 to sort out those vital phenomena which are most universal, in 

 order to determine what are the principal and essential functions 

 of living bodies. Such a labour cannot add much that is new to 

 science, but it forced me to the conclusion that the favourite 

 speculations of the present time concerning the origin and nature 

 of life as explained by science were superficial and even crude, 

 principally because they were not based upon a careful examina- 

 tion of the phenomena to be explained. In order to avoid erro- 



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