WHAT is LIFE? 21 



lows: i. Its chemical composition; 2. Its universal dis- 

 integration and waste by oxidation, and its concomitant 

 reintegration by the intussusception of new matter ; 

 3. Its tendency to undergo cyclical changes. 



Dr. Beale shows that " no relation can be established 

 between the chemical or other material properties of 

 different kinds of living matter that will in any way ac- 

 count for the different results as regards development 

 and formation. The different powers or properties of 

 the particles cannot be due to difference of chemical 

 composition. All living particles consist of compara- 

 tively few elements, and no differences in the propor- 

 tions of these would enable us to explain the different 

 results of the act of living. 



" This wonderful stuff, which is the first state of every 

 thing that has life, splits up when it is destroyed into 

 a few chemical compounds, from the study of which, 

 however, chemists have hitherto failed to arrive at any 

 conclusion as regards the atomic relations of the com- 

 ponent elements of the matter during life. Neither, as 

 far as has been ascertained, is there any constant rela- 

 tion between the volume, or kind, or aggregation of the 

 matter which is the seat of the manifestation of the vital 

 power and the form of living being that is to be evolved 

 from it. Man's matter is no more elaborate, no more 

 complex, no more beautiful, than dog's matter or sheep's 

 matter ; but it is in the power, not in the matter, that 

 we must look for the cause of the remarkable difference 

 of the results. Insignificantly in matter, but transcend- 

 ently in power, does the man-germ differ from the dog- 

 germ. Wonderfully different power may be transmitted 



