STATE HOKTICUI.TUUAI. SOCIKTY. I07 



This is not my experience; I can ship Turners 600 to 800 miles and 

 have them arrive at destination in good condition; I ship in shallow 

 pints, whether shipping North or South. 



On motion, the Society adjourned till seven o'clock in the evening, 

 to meet in the large hall of the University, its use being tendered by 

 President Hewitt. 



SECOND DAY— EVENING. 



The Society assembled in the large hall at the appointed time. 

 There were also present many citizens, and teachers and pupils of the 

 institution. 



The first business being the report from the Committee on Botany 

 and Vegetable Physiology, Dr. A. G. Humphrey, of Galesburg, pre- 

 sented the following as his report : 



ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE. 



In my paper last year on the origin and evolution of life in plants, 

 I showed from geological and palseontological evidence that the lowest 

 forms of life appeared on the earth while our planet was yet in its 

 primary epoch, and that as the earth changed, and new forces affected the 

 land, sea and atmosphere, higher forms of life appeared. Judge Lanphere, 

 of my own city, wrote a criticism on my paper entitled "The Origin of 

 Life," and published in the Chicago Tribune, and later another paper 

 with the same title published in the Galesburg Republican-Register. 



Two leading thoughts appear in these papers: 



1. All changes and phenomena in the inorganic world are from 

 material causes and forces ; and 



2. Life is a "supernatural power, infinitely superior to matter, 

 dominating matter and converting it into the mediums of expression 

 of the purposes and omnipotence of the supernatural power." 



I propose to show in this paper that life, not only in its origin but 

 also in every vital phenomenon, depends solely and absolutely on material 

 causes. The question as to the existence of a power above matter and 

 superior to all its forces was not raised in my paper on the life of plants, 

 nor do I consider it a question of scientific investigation. 



All that we can know or find out of matter is from material mani- 

 festations. Science deals only with phenomena and the laws which 

 connect them. There is an unknowable universe which science cannot 

 penetrate. It is with the course of visible and tangible nature that 

 science invites investigation. Prof. Simon Newcomb says: 



" We find ourselves placed in this world in the midst of a vast theater of activity. 

 We see an atmosphere agitated by storms ; ^reat masses of water rising in the air to 

 form clouds, and, after falling to the earth, flowing as mighty rivers to the ocean ; count- 



