CHAPTER VII 



LIFE AND ITS PHENOMENA {Continued) 



Living beings were formerly supposed to possess a 

 "Vital Principle or Force," ^ as of a special kind "con- 

 ceived to exist apart from any material organisation as 

 a kind of entity. A difference between a living and a 

 dead animal was thought to be simply one of the presence 

 or absence of that entity called life."^ 



Prof. Dolbear quotes the opinions of fifteen modern 

 scientific authors, who all agree in regarding the phe- 

 nomena of life as comparable or identical with the 

 physico-chemical processes well known in the mineral 

 kingdom. For example: — 



Haeckel says : " We can demonstrate . . . the physi- 

 cal and chemical properties of the albuminous bodies to 

 be the real cause of organic or vital phenomena ". 



But since no albuminous bodies are ever formed 

 without a precedent life, how is it possible to demonstrate 

 as a cause that which depends upon the other ? 



Hofifding says : " The aim of modern physiology is to 

 conceive all organic processes as physical or chemical ". 



' A good account of Barthez' theory of the " Vital Principle " will 

 be found in E. T. Withington's Medical History from the Earliest Times, 

 sec. "Vitalism," p. 338. " He repeatedly protests that he does not mean 

 to explain anything by his ' vital principle,' which is simply a short way 

 of expressing his belief that life is not the result of either bodily or mental 

 action." This will equally apply to " Directivity " in plants and animals. 



" Dolbear, op. cit., p. 277. 



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