in an indirect manner clues to the real nature of life pro- 

 cesses. The fascination of these plunges into the un- 

 known is perhaps hardly comprehensible to those who are 

 not engaged in the work, but all must admit the import- 

 ance of the end they have in view, namely to penetrate a 

 little further into the mystery of life. The advance in all 

 these fields is of necessity along the line of the mechanistic 

 conception of vital manifestations, that is, the reference 

 of them to chemical and physical laws. To appeal to a 

 "Vital Force," as my predecessors in these lectures have 

 said, is to appeal to an empty name, a mere "question-beg- 

 ging epithet." It is obvious that if we are to make any 

 progress at all, we must admit of the possibility of some 

 solution that our senses can perceive, even though we are 

 perfectly willing to admit that the final answer may 

 never be reached. The reference of vital phenomena to a 

 vague "Vital Force" would mean the extinction of in- 

 quiry by robbing the investigator of any sense of responsi- 

 bility for adequate explanations of the results of his re- 

 searches. 



As you have heard in previous lectures, there is an in- 

 creasing tendency on the part of biologists to segregate less 

 sharply the physiological and morphological fields of 

 work, to take a broader view of not only the content but 

 also the methods of the two branches of biological inves- 

 tigation. It must not be supposed, however, that in this 

 tendency towards co-operation there is a return to omni- 

 science of the type of the old-time naturalist, who by 

 reason of the lack of detail was able to consider himself 

 proficient in many branches of science. The modern 

 morphologist must still be a morphologist, and the physi- 

 ologist a physiologist, only he has a broader point of view 

 and does not hesitate to avail himself of the cognate 

 branches of his science, or of any other science where he 

 feels that he can further the aims of his researches ; he is 



22 



