OF LIFE. 



PART III. SPECULATIVE. 



I. OF THE NATURE OF LIFE. 



[HAT is to be understood by the term life? is a 

 question which has been answered very differ- 

 ently by different authorities in these days, and 

 it is one to which a satisfactory reply has never yet been 

 given. Few words are in more frequent use, and yet it is 

 most difficult to define what we mean by this word life, 

 partly no doubt, because it has been used in so many 

 different senses. . 



By the " life " of the world, of a nation, or of a society, 

 we mean something very different from what we mean when 

 we speak of the " life " of an individual ; for may not many 

 individuals perish without the life of the world, of a nation, 

 or of a society being destroyed or impaired ? Again, the 

 "life" of a man, or the "life" of an animal, is something 

 very different from what is termed the " life " of a white 

 blood corpuscle, or of a mucus, or pus corpuscle ; inasmuch 

 as many hundreds of white blood corpuscles, or elemental 

 units of the tissues, might die in the man, without the " life" 

 of the man being affected ; moreover the man himself might 

 perish, and some of his living particles remain alive. 



