154 Protoplasm. 



except for the general and natural belief that 

 deliberate and reiterated assertions must have 

 some foundation.' J It is by this time tolerably 

 clear that Professor Huxley's ' Chemistry of 

 Life' has no foundation except that of 'deli- 

 berate and reiterated assertion.'' " 3 



But " if such be the case with the chemistry, 

 what is to be said for the argument founded 

 upon it, or attached to it if, indeed, argument 

 it can be called ? " It has now been tried, 

 and found wanting, in every particular. It is 

 condemned by its own admissions. It is con- 

 demned by the magnitude of its assumptions. 

 It is condemned by its antagonism to notorious 

 facts, and its violation of established principles. 

 And the sentence which has followed condem- 

 nation is not less just than severe : 



"I cannot more appropriately conclude this 

 notice of the doctrine of ' The Physical Basis of 

 Life,' than with an extract from the author's 

 own anthology of criticism, where, 8 speaking of 

 the theory of creation, he says : 



" ' That such verbal hocus-pocus should be received as 



1 " Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature," p. 85. 



* Dr. Elam: Contemporary Review, September, 1876, 



P. 555- 



* Professor Huxley's " Lay Sermons," p. 285. 



