170 THE CASE AGAINST EVOLUTION 



always be transmitted from a diseased to a healthy indi- 

 vidual. The microscopist is tantalized, to quote the words 

 of Wilson, "with visions of disease germs which no eye has 

 yet seen, so minute as to pass through a fine filter, yet be- 

 yond a doubt self-perpetuating and of specific type." {Sci- 

 ence, March 9, 1923, p. 283.) Submicroscopic dimensions, 

 therefore, are no obstacle to the manifestation of such vital 

 properties as reproduction, genetic continuity, and typical 

 specificity; and we must conclude that, if any of the ultra- 

 microns of colloids possessed them, their minute size would 

 not debar them from manifesting the fact. As it is, they fail 

 to show any vital quality, whereas the submicroscopic dis- 

 ease germs give evidence of possessing all the characteristics 

 of visible cells. 



In fine, the radical difference between inorganic units, like 

 atoms, molecules, and multimolecules, and living units, like 

 protozoans and metazoans, is so obvious that it is univer- 

 sally admitted. Not all, however, are in accord when it comes 

 to assigning the fundamental reason for the difference in 

 question. Benjamin Moore postulates a unique physical en- 

 ergy, peculiar to living organisms and responsible for all dis- 

 tinctively vital manifestations. This unique form of energy, 

 unlike all other forms, he calls "biotic energy," denying at 

 the same time that it is a vital force. (Cf. op. cit, pp. 224- 

 226.) Moore seems to be desirous of dressing up vitalism in 

 the verbal vesture of mechanism. He wants the game, with- 

 out the name. But, if his ''biotic energy" is unlike all other 

 forms of energy, it ought not to parade under the same 

 name, but should frankly call itself a "vital force." Somewhat 

 similar in nature is Osbom's suggestion that the peculiar 

 properties of living protoplasm may be due to the presence 

 of a unique chemical element called Bion. (Cf. "The Origin 

 and Evolution of Life," 1917, p. 6.) Now, a chemical element 

 unlike other chemical elements is not a chemical element at 

 all. Osborn's Bion, like Moore's biotic energy, ought, by all 

 means, to make up its mind definitely on Hamlet's question 



