CHAPTER I 



THE DARWINIAN AND OTHJfitt THEORIES 

 ABOUT PHYSICAL UFE 



No intelligent person can fail to be in- 



terested in the great question, what makes 



physical matter living matter? This 



question has been the oldest, and still re- 



mains the latest topic of scientific discus- 



sion. It is well, therefore, to recognize at 



the outset why no agreement has been 



X reached on the subject. It is chiefly be- 



*\ cause living matter constantly ceases to 



V. be so. If it were not for death, we could 



^ study life as we would any other phenom- 



enon. But wholly different from any other 



great reality in this world, life is and is 



not, leaving us quite unable to say what 



that is which departs with death. Matter 



may change from one form to another 



