LIFE AND THE COSMOS 285 



positive success in three centuries. Such a 

 history no doubt depends upon the very na- 

 ture of the situation; upon the inherent and 

 inevitable weakness, within the domain of 

 science, of vitalistic views. 



Experience seems to show that the only kind 

 of hypothesis which can find conclusive Aen- 

 tific support, or sound basis in the phenomena 

 of matter and energy, is a mechanistic hy- 

 pothesis. Exact and positive knowledge can 

 demonstrate scientifically the truth of no 

 other hypothesis with the finality which char- f 

 acterizes its proof of a mechanistic theory. 

 Hence, so far as it ventures into the field of 

 science at all, a vitalistic theory, when attacked 

 by science, cannot effectually avail itself of 

 the weapons of the assailant, and can never 

 make a powerful counter attack. Its only 

 method consists in a determined resistance, 

 yielding little by little before the advance of 

 positive knowledge and never gaining new 

 territory, nor, except by accident, regaining 

 what it has lost. Where this process is to 

 end; in what respect and how far life is des- 

 tined ever to remain a scientific riddle, can 

 only be surmised. 



The chief definitive triumphs of the mech- 

 anistic view are two : the elimination of vital 

 force and of a belief in peculiarity of chemical 



