34 LIFE. 



THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE. 



What is life ? Is it an entity separable 

 from the body ? Is it a " force," or " mode 

 of motion " ? Or is it an evidence of the 

 presence of protoplasm ? Is there any 

 difference between vegetable and animal 

 life ? What is death ? 



From what has been advanced on the 

 functions of protoplasm, the reader will 

 be prepared to learn that I agree with those 

 biologists who view " life " as the phenomena 

 resulting from chemical changes going 

 on in protoplasm ; as the phenomena 

 evidencing that these changes are going 

 on. 20 Let me repeat : Life is the sum 

 of the phenomena resulting from chemical 

 changes going on in the protoplasm of 

 the body. Life is not a force or energy ; 

 all the natural so-called forces are convertible 

 into one another, and are re-convertible : 

 life cannot be converted into any force ; 

 it can only continue or cease : it ceases 

 as the light of a match ceases, when the 

 substance of the match is burned away. 

 Nor is life a mode of motion : it is not 



20 " In physiology the word life is understood to mean 

 the chemical and physical activities of the parts of which 

 the organism consists." DoLBEAR, p. 358. (See note to 

 p. 8). 



