64 HEREDITY. 



science, against the pretences of materialism, what 

 are some of the uses which can be made of a just 

 and verifiable definition of life ? 



1. Correctly defined, life in physical organisms is 

 the power which co-ordinates the movements of germinal 

 matter. 



2. This definition is not intended to apply to dis- 

 embodied life, nor to the Divine Existence. 



It is a definition, not of life merely, but of life in 

 physical organisms. 



3. It is identical with Aristotle's definition of life 

 as the cause of form in organisms. 



4. Co-ordination, the greatest marvel in the struc- 

 ture of living tissues, is, by this definition, put in 

 the foreground. 



5. But the co-ordination of the movements of 

 germinal matter or bioplasm only is mentioned, for 

 no other form of matter in living tissues has the 

 power of movement. 



Inorganic matter does not move, formed matter 

 does not move, except as each is moved by the bio- 

 plasts. To account for the changes in the position 

 of the former, we must therefore fasten our attention 

 on the movements of the latter. The defect of Spen- 

 cer's, and of many other attempted definitions of 

 life in physical organisms, is that such life is not 

 spoken of as connected always with germinal mat- 

 ter. Spencer is justly criticised by Drysdale for 

 not confining the range of his definition to this 

 peculiar kind of matter called bioplasm. (Drys- 

 dale, Protoplasmic Theory of Life, London, 1874, p. 



