64 CRITICISM OF MECHANISTIC THEORY 



this is a complete illusion. The advance of 

 investigation has only served to make the 

 misty sphere more evident ; and not only does 

 it exist, but there is not the remotest chance, 

 as we have just seen, that physical or chemical 

 investigation will ever dispel the mist. The 

 phenomena of life are of such a nature that 

 \> no physical or chemical explanation of them 

 \ is remotely conceivable. 



Let us try to get to grips with this matter. 

 What is the real cause of the helpless position 

 in which biology finds herself ? The mechan 

 istic hypothesis has been the only one of the 

 two which seemed inherently capable of 

 helping us positively in the details of biologi 

 cal investigation; and yet this hypothesis is 

 unmistakably a failure in relation to biologi 

 cal investigation as a whole ; and the vitalistic 

 theory, if one can call it a theory, is only a 

 way of registering this failure, and does not 

 help us to a real understanding. 



The main outstanding fact is that the 

 mechanistic account of the universe breaks 

 down completely in connection with the 

 phenomena of life. Whether it is not also 

 insufficient in connection with phenomena 



