ORGANIC AND INORGANIC WORLD. IC j 



positive opinions upon these difficult questions discourse 

 upon the nature of the phenomena going on in the organism 

 of man himself in his fully developed state. The inquiry is 

 prefaced by some reference to force, and the constancy of 

 its amount in the universe. Systems, and suns, and worlds, 

 and steam-engines, and mills, and wheels, and springs, 

 and telegraphs, and furnaces are then referred to. The 

 student is assured over and over again that in plants 

 and animals the same forces are at work as in the inorganic 

 world, and that the investigation of the laws of the inde- 

 structibility and correlation of force will explain much 

 concerning the nature of "life;" but his attention is not 

 drawn to those phenomena peculiar to living things which 

 receive no explanation whatever from what is yet known 

 of physical and chemical laws. Hence in the present day 

 many are led to believe that the identity of vital and phy- 

 sical actions has been fully and completely established, 

 although such an inference is not justified by any scientific 

 observations or discoveries yet made. 



There is another way of gaining over people to your 

 views which is not unknown to enthusiasts. Insinuate 

 that the views of the observers opposed to you are posi- 

 tively worthless. Suggest that any opinions except those 

 to which you have committed yourself could only be 

 held either by a fool or a savage, and your converts will 

 probably include most of those who desire to be assured 

 that they are neither foolish nor savage. Assure the public 

 that those who refuse to accept the reputed truism that 

 life is but a form, or mode, or mood of ordinary energy, 

 are very far behind the knowledge of the day, and are 

 obstinate, unreliable, and untrustworthy. 



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