32 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



centre is the simplest phase in which there appears 

 an individuality in Nature. With discovery of the 

 cell as the basis of vital function, Professor Burdon 

 Sanderson says, the mystery which before belonged 

 to the organism was transferred to the unit, which, 

 while it served to explain everything, was itself 

 unexplained. l This discovery was the reward of the 

 researches of Kobert Brown, the English botanist, 

 of Schleiden, and of Schwann. Professor Burdon 

 Sanderson says of this discovery that it seemed to 

 be a very close approach to the mechanism of life; 

 but now we are striving to get still closer, with the 

 same result. Our measurements are more exact, our 

 methods finer; but these very methods bring us to 

 close quarters with phenomena, which, though within 

 reach of exact investigation, are, as regards their 

 essence, involved in a mystery which is more profound 

 the more it is brought into contrast with the exact 

 knowledge we possess of surrounding conditions. 2 

 Accepting life as the beginning of a new order of 

 things, the fact is recognised as an essential feature in 

 Nature, without an explanation of its origin having 

 been obtained. We are familiar with vital movement, 

 as movement of individual organism from its own 

 centre. All that can as yet be said is that living 

 material acts by virtue of its structure. Descending 

 as low in structure as a very minute centre, our 

 knowledge depends on observation of its activity. 

 The utmost efforts of science are limited to this. 

 Professor Burdon Sanderson has said, if we are not 



1 Mechanism of Life in its Simplest Aspects, by Professor 

 Burdon Sanderson. Nature, vol. xl. p. 525 1889 



2 Ibid., p. 525. 



