VITAL PHENOMENA. 



which occur in the form of a mass of germinal or living 

 matter undoubtedly succeed and are a consequence of 

 antecedent changes, but what do we know about these ante- 

 cedent changes ? All we have learnt positively is that the 

 matter moves in a manner peculiar to matter of this kind. 

 Shall we account for the movement by saying that it is a 

 consequence of antecedent phenomena or that it is due to 

 an inherent tendency to move or to a property which it has 

 derived from matter like it from which it came or to some 

 mysterious agency acting from without or from within, or to 

 the action and reaction of forces acting in both directions ? 

 It is not possible to prove why the matter moves because we 

 have no means of investigating its state just prior to the 

 occurrence of the actual movement, but the universality of 

 this movement in the living world convinces us that it is of 

 the highest importance and very intimately related to life 

 itself. This movement has been shown to be peculiar, and 

 so far has not been excited in any form of non-living matter. 

 Is it not, therefore, reasonable to suppose that the condition 

 which immediately precedes the occurrence of actual move- 

 ment is also peculiar to living matter ? But is it a phenomenal 

 change ? Some action, state, or condition, must undoubt- 

 edly take place in the matter just prior to movement, 

 differing from the condition or state which obtains in the 

 living matter when no movement is about to occur, but we 

 cannot demonstrate any difference whatever ; neither have 

 we yet been able to discover any means by which the state 

 of change just preceding active movement can be dis- 

 tinguished from the state of ordinary and comparative rest. 

 We do not in fact know when a movement is about to 



