272 PHENOMENAL CHANGES. 



nomena to which I think the term vital ought to be re- 

 stricted. It would be quite in accordance with reason on 

 the part of any one well acquainted with the facts to hold 

 the opinion that such a discovery will not be possible un- 

 less the power of the human intellect should become much 

 greater than it is at this time. But man would indeed 

 achieve little in science if he did not dare to attempt to 

 solve problems which some of the wisest have regarded as 

 insoluble. Speculation may, therefore, be permitted. But 

 it is scarcely the question whether speculation is legitimate 

 or not, for it is certain that men will speculate, and surely 

 it is not less probable that the speculations of workers and 

 thinkers who have devoted themselves for years to the study 

 of a special branch of knowledge, may be as useful and as 

 worthy of being considered, as the speculations of those 

 who have not worked at all at the subject on which they 

 speculate, but who, according to their own assertion are 

 so very strong that their speculations upon any subject must 

 be of the greatest possible consequence. 



When one portion of a mass of living matter is seen to 

 move in advance of other portions it may be said that the 

 movement is due to some alteration which occurred just 

 before. But what evidence have we that this antecedent 

 change, which cannot be rendered evident to our senses, 

 was really phenomenal ? 



The visible changes which occur in the form of the 

 living matter undoubtedly succeed and are a consequence 

 of antecedent changes, but we cannot prove that these ante- 

 cedent changes are phenomenal. All we have learnt posi- 

 tively is that the matter moves in a manner peculiar to 

 matter of this kind. Shall we account for the movement 



