208 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



on account of its manifestations and not because 

 it has been made obvious in itself to any of our 

 senses aided or unaided. 



If then the vitalistic explanation is verbal 

 only so also is the theory of gravitation and 

 so the existence of the ether. 



It shall be left to a distinguished physio- 

 logist to have the last word on this subject in 

 the present chapter. Dr Haldane * says : "It 

 is frequently urged that vitalism amounts to 

 nothing more than the mere assertion that a 

 physico-chemical explanation of vital pheno- 

 mena has not been found; and that even 

 though this assertion be correct, the only pos- 

 sible way to advance in physiology is by the 

 further application of the principles of physics 

 and chemistry, since there are and can be no 

 other kinds of explanation but the causal ones 

 which these sciences afford. This argument in 

 its widest form is undoubtedly based on the 

 metaphysical assumption that the universe, 

 interpreted as it is in the physical sciences as 

 a universe of matter and energy, corresponds 

 to absolute reality, and is for this reason in- 

 capable of any further interpretation. The 

 work of modern philosophy since Berkeley and 

 Hume has shown that the assumption in ques- 

 tion is without foundation." 



* Loc. supra tit. 



