INTKOI).] THEORIES OF LIFE. 17 



Miiller advocates the presence of an " organic force" resident in 

 the whole organism, on which the existence of each part depends, 

 and which has the property of generating from organic matters the 

 individual organs necessary to the whole. " This rational creative 

 force is exerted in every animal strictly in accordance with what 

 the nature of each requires ; it exists already in the germ, and 

 creates in it the essential parts of the future animal." 



An hypothesis, not dissimilar to that last mentioned, is maintained 

 by Dr. Prout, and, as appears to us, it has been pushed by him to 

 the utmost limits which the most fanciful speculation would admit 

 of. He supposes that a certain organic agent (or agents) exists, the 

 intimate nature of which is unknown, but to which very extra- 

 ordinary powers are ascribed. It is superior to those agents whose 

 operations we witness in the inorganic world : it possesses the power 

 of controlling and directing the operations of those inferior agents. 

 " If," says Dr. Prout, " the existence of one such organic agent be 

 admitted, the admission of the existence of others can scarcely be 

 withheld ; for the existence of one only is quite inadequate to explain 

 the infinite diversity among plants and animals" " In all cases it 

 must be considered an ultimate principle, endowed by the Creator 

 with a faculty little short of intelligence, by means of which it is 

 enabled to construct such a mechanism from natural elements, and 

 by the aid of natural agencies, as to render it capable of taking 

 further advantage of their properties, and of making them subser- 

 vient to its use." 



The hypothesis of Aristotle, Miiller, and Prout, and the earlier 

 of those proposed by Harvey, seem all alike; they assume that 

 organization and life are directed and controlled by an Entity, or 

 Power, " endowed with a faculty little short of intelligence," the 

 tyvxy of Aristotle, the animating principle of Harvey, the organic 

 force of Miiller, and the organic agent of Prout. What the me- 

 chanism may be by which this entity acts, they do not determine ; 

 but it is evidently such as bears no analogy to any known natural 

 agency. Its existence is independent of the organism, for it has di- 

 rected both the organizing process and the living actions of the being. 

 A V hence then is it derived? According to Miiller, from the parent, 

 for it exists in the germ, it derives its powers from the same 

 source, and its pedigree may therefore be traced to the first created 

 individual of each species of animal or plant. Are we to conclude, 

 then, that organic agents generate organic agents, and transmit 

 their powers to their offspring? Or must we assume, that, for 

 each newly generated animal or plant, a special organic agent is 



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