PHYSICAL LIFE AND ITS 

 BASIS. 



[HE opinion that life is a form or mode of energy 

 or motion has for many years past been gaining 

 an increased number of advocates, and now ap- 

 pears to be very generally entertained and taught by 

 scientific men. The idea that life is a power, force, or 

 property of a special and peculiar kind, temporarily influ- 

 encing matter and its ordinary forces, but entirely different 

 from, and in no way correlated with any of these, has been 

 ridiculed, and is often spoken of as if it were too absurd to 

 require refutation. And yet it is doubtful if any one who 

 has carefully studied the matter is fully satisfied as to the 

 accuracy of the facts, and the cogency of the arguments 

 advanced in favour of the physical doctrine of life. The 

 very positive affirmations made by some authorities, un- 

 supported as they are by well-demonstrated facts, almost 

 suggest to the reader a suspicion whether after all, the 

 writer himself believes the doctrine to which he has com- 

 mitted himself, and which he has determined to advocate 

 with all the force of his authority, and to the very utmost 

 of his power, to be really true. 



It may be that facts recently discovered strongly support 



