1 6 ARE LIVING BEINGS ONLY 



each statement, must be carefully conducted, it may be, by 

 opponents, and the facts upon which the inferences have been 

 based must be carefully examined. If a man has honestly 

 worked, he will respect the opinion of other honest workers 

 though it be opposed to his own; and if objections are raised 

 to his conclusions, he ought to be glad of the opportunity of 

 making his meaning more clear, or, if need be, of correcting 

 himself. An observer who works thoroughly must feel far 

 more hurt at the vapid common-place remarks in his praise 

 which appear even in our best journals and reviews, than 

 he would be at a good analytical criticism, even though it 

 were hostile and pointed out every one of his weak points, 

 and laid bare his mistakes without mercy. 



I have ventured to criticise the observations of many 

 fellow-workers upon matters which have always appeared to 

 me of such very deep interest that it is possible that I may 

 have formed an exaggerated estimate of their real import- 

 ance. I may have been led to infer that the general bear- 

 ing of views now taught upon questions of the highest 

 interest to all of us is, in its tendency, more disastrous 

 than may eventually prove to be the case. But however 

 this may be, and however little attention may be given to 

 the details relating to the matters in question, I am con- 

 vinced that no thoughtful physician or physiologist can 

 accept in their present form the doctrines, I may say, now 

 generally entertained upon the subject of life, and the essen- 

 tial nature of the changes occurring in disease \ and I am 

 naturally anxious to show distinctly why these views cannot, 

 in my opinion, be accepted, and to draw attention to the 

 exact points in which they appear to me to fail. This, then, 

 is my apology if apology be needed for writing in a 



