WISLIZENUS — THOUGHTS ON MATTER AND FORCE. 305 



ized the isolated chemical processes for one great object, and 

 united the scattered rays, as it were, into one focus, to wit : 

 the development of the organism to its typical and indivi- 

 dual destination, and its preservation, as long as possible, 

 against hostile, external agencies. Such power is nowhere in 

 nature bestowed upon any chemical process ; there is nothing 

 found in the laws of chemical affinity to warrant any such 

 assumption. It must, therefore, be a new force, superior to 

 physical forces, which controls and regulates them for the 

 interest of organic life. This force is called vital force. It 

 manifests itself from the first moment of germination up to 

 the last moment of life, in a two-fold manner : 1. In direct- 

 ing the organic germ to such growth and development as is 

 inborn to it — (germinative force). 2. By resisting all hos- 

 tile influences as far as possible, and repairing injuries 

 received in the best possible manner, (vis medicatrix 

 naturae). What chemical process is capable of uniting thus 

 harmoniously the grand aggregate of actions in a living 

 body to such a rational purpose, and by what chemical 

 action has ever the most simple organism been produced? 

 Organic chemistry may, in a laborious, circuitous way, pro- 

 duce yet many more organic compounds than heretofore; it 

 might possibly fabricate in the retort gastric juice, bile, and 

 even blood, but with all that it would never be able to form 

 even the most trifling organism ; it could never compose that 

 most simple combination of matter and vital force, a primi- 

 tive cell, the starting point of everything living. This prim- 

 tive cell is no chemical mystery ; its chemical constituents are 

 very simple, and essentially the same in all organic bodies, 

 and, nevertheless, what immense divergence in its develop- 

 ment ! If chemistry could ever construct the material form 

 of such a cell, would it be capable, too, of imbuing it with the 

 power of development in millions of different forms and 

 lives? No man of sound mind will ever pretend such a 

 thing; and no man of science acknowledges more openly 

 and honestly that impossibility than the chemist par 

 excellence of our age, Prof. Liebig, when he says: "In the 

 living body the chemical forces are subordinate to the idea 

 of vital force, and never will chemistry succeed in forming 

 but a simple organic cell out of carbonic acid, ammonia, 

 water, phosphorus, and lime (those principal constituents of 

 the human body)." Let chemistry, therefore, be satisfied with 

 the wonderful discoveries it has made, and with the future 

 triumphs within its reach ; but let us not expect impossibili- 

 ties of that noble science. Chemical force will never super- 

 sede vital force, its superior and master, under whose control 

 and supervision it has to work for the support ot organic life. 

 Vital force is the higher force, and superior to physical forces 

 in the same degree that organic bodies are to inorganic. 



