PROPERTIES OF LIVING BEINGS. 



of life has exerted very little influence. It is absurd to 

 expect that thoughtful persons will be convinced that 

 vital phenonema are physical and chemical phenomena, 

 simply by an authoritative assertion that they are so ; 

 and no matter how energetically the doctrine may be 

 advocated, it will not be received unless it is proved to 

 be founded upon facts. In spite of all that has been said, 

 the chemist has taught us little concerning the nature of 

 the changes which take place when pabulum becomes 

 totally changed and converted into living matter, or when 

 the latter gives rise to some peculiar kind of formed matter. 

 He has shown us, it is true, that certain substances result- 

 ing in the organism during the disintegration of formed 

 matter may be prepared artificially in the laboratory but 

 he knows as well as the physiologist, that their formation in 

 the organism is conducted upon totally different principles, 

 of the nature of which all are entirely ignorant. And it is 

 childish to attempt, as some have done, to hide our igno- 

 rance by referring the actions to subtle influences, cell- 

 laboratories, and molecular machinery, when every one 

 knows there is nothing like a laboratory or machinery in 

 any molecule or cell in any organism. 



The different forms and properties of living beings can 

 only be explained by supposing the influence of force dif- 

 ferent from ordinary forces acting upon the matter of which 

 they are composed, or upon the existence of properties, other 

 than the inorganic properties, transmitted or handed down 

 from pre-existing matter having similar, though, perhaps, not 

 identical properties. These vital properties seem to be super- 

 added to matter temporarily, and are not, like the former, 



