82 Presidential Address 



realise both the learning and the limita- 

 tions, make use of the one and allow for 

 the other, and not take the recipe of a 

 practical worker for a formula wherewith 

 to interpret the Universe. 



What appears to be quite certain is that 

 there can be no terrestrial manifestation 

 of life without matter. Hence naturally 

 they say, or they approve such sayings as, 

 "I discern in matter the promise and 

 potency of all forms of life." Of all 

 terrestrial manifestations of life, certainly; 

 how else could it manifest itself save 

 through matter? "I detect nothing in 

 the organism but the laws of Chemistry 

 and Physics," it is said. Very well: 

 naturally enough. That is what they 

 are after; they are studying the physical 

 and chemical aspects or manifestations 

 of life. But life itself life and mind and 

 consciousness they are not studying, 

 and they exclude them from their pur- 

 view. Matter is what appeals to our 

 senses here and now; Materialism is ap- 

 propriate to the material world; not as a 

 philosophy but as a working creed, as a 



