1 1 6 Specific Genesis 



tells us there is, a distinct power and principle, ' vitality,' in 

 the one which is wanting in the other, as well as more or less 

 complexity of organisation. M^ 



Again we are told, as to organisms : ' External conditions 

 are, nevertheless, essential factors in development, as well as 

 in mere increase of growth. No animal or plant is developed, 

 nor do its developments acquire any growth, without very 

 special external conditions.' Surely, I hardly needed to be 

 solemnly informed of so very elementary a truth. 



Regarding the rules of the 'inductive philosophy,' Mr. 

 Wright remarks : — 



* A stricter observance of these by Mr. Murphy and our author 

 might have saved them from the mistake we have noticed, and from 

 many others, — the *' realism " of ascribing efficacy to an abstraction, 

 making attraction and polarity produce structures and forms, independ- 

 ently of the products and of the concrete matters and forces in them.' 



In whom, or in what ? and what are attraction and 

 polarity if they be not forces ? Who ever considered them 

 as acting independently of themselves ? Would Mr. Wright 

 prefer that the earth's orbit should be spoken of not as 

 the resultant of gravity and centrifugal force, but as produced 

 by ' coming together ' and ' flying away ' ? I have, of course, 

 no objection to that mode of expression, but I see no special 

 advantage in it warranting such a departure from usage. It 

 is singular that Mr. Wright himself, on the next page, 

 employs the very ' abstractions ' he blames others for making 

 use of. He there quotes approvingly the expressions 

 'impenetrability,' 'mobility,' and impulsive force of bodies,' 

 and says ' that gravity does really exist and act according to ' 

 its laws. It is difficult to see the greater sin in speaking 

 of the ' real existence ' of ' polarity ' than of ' gravity.' Not 

 only, however, does Mr. Wright quote such expressions, but 

 he uses them himself with the greatest freedom, and without 

 scruple, whenever they suit his purpose. Thus he tells us 



