TRUE CAUSE OF LIVING CHANGES. 359 



upon the supposition of the existence of a power capable of 

 foreseeing what was about to happen, and of determining 

 beforehand the arrangement that would be most advantageous 

 to the living being, and able to provide beforehand for 

 requirements that it was foreseen would arise at a future 

 time. 



Generally, and in conclusion, if I may be allowed to 

 state, what according to my idea would be the inference 

 deduced by an unprejudiced scientific observer who had 

 studied the minute changes in living matter and the gradual 

 development of lifeless form out of the living formless, it 

 would be this : that the true cause of what he observed 

 could not be physical, and that the remarkable phenomena 

 he had noticed were not due to ordinary material forces. 

 But the acceptance of the physical view is unquestionably 

 essential if the recent revival of Epicureanism is to be sup- 

 ported and forced into notoriety ; while on the other hand, it 

 is quite certain that if the phenomena referred to are shown 

 not to be purely physical, that miserable variety of supersti- 

 tion, falsely called philosophy, will be again disowned by all 

 sensible people. No one ought to give up the idea of the 

 existence of vital power simply because authorities, who must 

 confess themselves unable to explain in what manner a blade 

 of grass grows, may choose to dogmatize about fact and force 

 and law. Neither can I admit that any of the facts hitherto 

 discovered at least in the physiological department of 

 science conflict in any way with the conclusions advanced 

 many years ago by myself concerning vital power, or in the 

 slightest degree militate against the generally expressed 

 belief in a God, in the truth of the argument of design, and 

 in the providential government of the world. 



