IX. A THEORY OF LIFE 1 



OF the making of books on the question of 

 Vitalism there would seem to be no end ; 

 and, following upon quite a number of 

 others comes this handsome, well-illustrated, in- 

 tensely interesting book, by one whose writings 

 are always worth study. It purports to deal with 

 the Origin and Evolution of Life ; but, as to the 

 first, it leaves us in no way advanced towards any 

 real explanation of that problem on materialistic 

 lines. As to the second, though there is a vast 

 amount of valuable information, often illumi- 

 nating and suggestive, again we confess that we 

 fail to discover any real philosophy of that process 

 of evolution which the author postulates. These 

 propositions we must now proceed to justify. 

 We can consider them from the most rigidly 

 scientific standpoint, since, if every word or 

 almost every word in the book were proved truth, 

 it would not make the slightest difference to 

 Catholic Philosophy, nor, indeed, to Theistic 

 teachings, since in the imperishable words of 

 Paley : " There may be many second causes, and 

 many courses of second causes, one behind another, 



1 The Origin and Evolution of Life ; or y the Theory of Action, 

 Reaction^ and, Interaction of Energy. By. F. H. Osborn. (G. Bell 

 & Sons.) 



IGC 



