LIVING THINGS AND MACHINES 205 



it is not forbidden us to think about, and to 

 think about biophors and the like is certainly 

 not a mortal sin. But have they any real exist- 

 ence ? Are we on any solid ground if we look 

 to them as the constituent parts of the con- 

 stellations of energy in which we are so much 

 interested ? 



What after all are these biophors and deter- 

 minants ? Most biologists, it is not unfair to 

 say, utterly refuse to believe in their existence 

 and even their describer is obliged to admit that 

 they cannot be seen by the microscope or recog- 

 nised by any kind of objective test. 



They are not objects known to science, for 

 science only deals with observable facts. They 

 tire the products of a luxuriant and highly- 

 developed scientific imagination and have been 

 postulated by Professor Weismann for the pur- 

 pose of explaining the phenomena of nature, 

 and, inter alia, of disproving the existence of 

 11 vital force in the living organism. In point 

 of fact Professor Weismann builds up an 

 elaborate edifice of imagination, based on no 

 sufficient substratum of fact, and then says, 

 4 This is how things may happen " [and of 

 course it is possible that they may] " and as 

 a matter of fact I have no doubt that this is 

 ftow things do happen and that being so there 

 is no need for your vitalistic theories." To 



