62 PHYSICAL LIFE. 



trary, the more conclusively it is proved that the 

 physical facts yet discovered are incompetent to ex- 

 plain vital phenomena, the more do we find vague 

 but most positive assertion used, as if this were as 

 convincing as the results of observation and experi- 

 ment. The more desperate the case becomes the 

 more violently do its advocates affirm that their cause 

 is good ; the more strongly do they assert they are 

 in the right. And yet those who are determined to 

 support the physical theory of life need not care if 

 facts and arguments are against them, for, in order 

 to prove their case to the satisfaction of many per- 

 sons they have but to exclaim triumphantly, "In 

 the years yet to come new facts shall be discovered 

 which will demonstrate conclusively the truth of the 

 physical theory of life ! " 



Since cosmic vapour has produced worlds, shall not 

 air generate life ? Was not the announcement made 

 at the Royal Institution some years ago that the sun 

 formed the heart and built the brain, and that cattle, 

 and verdure, and lilies, were his workmanship ? Why, 

 then, shall not the air divide with the sun these mar- 

 vellous powers ? May we not be indebted to the sun 

 for the formation of complex organs like the heart and 

 brain, and may not the air generate that much simpler 

 moving jelly-like matter of which the simpler beings 

 are composed ? 



In conclusion, the following suggestions shall be 

 offered as an unworthy contribution towards esta- 



