174 OBJECTIONS TO METHOD OF 



has yet been admitted by advanced philosophical thinkers 

 of the present day. 



It seems to me, that any one who really desired to form 

 a true conception of the nature of life would try to discover 

 not only what was common to all living things, but would 

 endeavour to ascertain in the first place exactly what was 

 peculiar to them. He would, I think, begin to make in- 

 vestigations upon the simplest living things he could find, and 

 gradually extend his researches to the highest and most com- 

 plex. These he would examine first, during the earliest 

 period of their existence, when, as is well known, they 

 exhibit the simplest characters. Instead of pursuing such a 

 course, however, Mr. Herbert Spencer at once sets to work 

 upon the highest animals, and at a time of their life when 

 they are fully formed and all their organs developed in the 

 highest perfection and complexity. Curiously enough, a 

 similar course has been pursued by most of those who have 

 written upon the subject from the point of view taken by 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer. What do we mean by the "life" of 

 a man? seems to have been the question proposed to 

 answer , but, surely, the question that presents itself most 

 naturally is, what should be understood by, what pheno- 

 mena are comprised in the life of a single particle of 

 matter a yeast fungus, for example ? This having been 

 settled, the investigator would propose a similar question 

 respecting higher forms of life, and proceed at last to pro- 

 pound it concerning man. Had the matter been studied in 

 the order proposed, our views would necessarily have been 

 much clearer and more exact than they are at this time ; 

 and though we might not have satisfied ourselves as to 

 what life really was, we should not have been content to 



