THE president's ADDRESS. 247 



the living organism. "Water, carbonic acid, ammonia, and earthy 

 salts, are taken up by purely physical processes. Under the in- 

 fluences radiating from the sun, and transmitted as physical condi- 

 tions through the various intervening media, these substances are 

 decomposed. Their elements are rearranged, and becoming con- 

 stituents of living tissues, may be said to live. 



So far I have been simply endeavouring to convey to you, or 

 rather to remind you of what is strictly in accordance with the 

 scientific teaching of the day. 



The mode of expression I have used in speaking of conditions 

 of matter, rather than of forces acting upon matter, may be some- 

 what different to that ordinarily adopted, but may nevertheless be 

 allowed to pass. 



If you wish more information on the subjects to which I have 

 alhided, and further illustrations of what I have been stating, by 

 all means read, supposing you have not already done so. Grove's 

 treatise on the " Correlation of the Physical Forces." I do not know 

 any other work of modern times that has done so much to render 

 clear, to establish, and to advance our conceptions of the phenomena 

 of the material world about us. Read also the admirable paper by 

 Dr. Carpenter, in The Philosophical Transactions on the " Cor- 

 relation of the Vital and Physical Forces." 



Thus far we may advance on grounds the safety and stability of 

 which are very generally recognised and accepted. 

 • But now arises the question, " May we not go a step further ?" 

 May not the active physical conditions of surrounding matter re- 

 acting on certain susceptible substances become transmuted into 

 what we call the vital condition, even though no living germ be 

 present ? Nay, further, is it not the fact that they do become so 

 transmuted ? 



We take material of highly complex composition, — material 

 formed by the vital processes of highly organised beings, and which 

 possesses chemical and physical properties which characterise it. 

 Call this material an albuminoid compound, or call it " proto- 

 plasm," or " the physical basis of life," or what you will. We sub- 

 ject this material to the needful surrounding influences. Portions 

 of it undergo decomposition, and sink to lower grades. Other 

 portions aggregate, and assume more or less definite forms, and 

 manifest some of those phenomena which we call vital. 



Is there anything startling in this ? Is there anything incon- 



Q 



