A THEORY OF LIFE 163 



Or again : " So far as the creative power of 

 energy is concerned, we are on sure ground." 

 The author has a careful note on the word creation 

 (p. 5), " the production of something new out of 

 nothing," under which definition it is abundantly 

 clear that energy, whilst it may be productive, 

 cannot be creative. In fact, nothing can be 

 creative in any definite and rigid sense, save a 

 Creator Who existed from all eternity and from 

 Whom all things arose. One more instance of 

 loose argumentation, and we can turn to the main 

 purport of the book. It is a link in the author's 

 " chain " which cannot be passed without exami- 

 nation. Everybody is familiar with the method of 

 proof by elimination. We set down every 

 possible explanation of a certain occurrence ; we 

 rule out one after the other until but one is left. 

 If we really have set down all the possible ex- 

 planations, and if we are quite clear as to the fact 

 that all those which have been excluded are 

 legitimately put out of court, then the one remain- 

 ing explanation must be the true one. It is a 

 method of proof which has frequently been applied 

 to the vitalistic problem, and with the greatest 

 effect, as it is admitted by some of those who 

 would greatly like to find a materialistic explana- 

 tion for that problem (cf . The Philosophy of Biology, 

 Johns tone, p. 319). 



Let us see how our author employs it. What, 

 he asks, is " the internal moving principle " in 

 living substance ? And he replies : " We may 

 first exclude the possibility that it acts either 

 through supernatural or teleological interposition 



