WHAT IS PHYSICAL LIFE 



would give origin to life, whose successive 

 forms would be evolved by the interaction 

 of its own physical laws and forces. As 

 evolution knows of no break or interven- 

 tion, therefore we ourselves are its prod- 

 ucts also. Poets, philosophers, scientists, 

 and all other human beings are samples 

 of things which have thus come to be. 



When the Darwinian theory was first 

 promulgated, great was the enthusiasm of 

 its advocates, because it seemed to give an 

 account of the process of evolution fully 

 in keeping with the fundamental postu- 

 lates of the doctrine itself. We have seen 

 how the astronomer, Sir Robert Ball, was 

 enraptured with it on that account. We 

 may remark, however, in passing, that the 

 public has had several recent illustrations 

 of the truth that astronomers, as such, are 

 the last persons who can speak intelli- 

 gently about life, because they deal with 

 nothing living, but only with very distant 

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