THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



avowed supporter of dualism, theism, and teleology. 

 He reduces all the phenomena of life to a supernatural 

 miracle. 



Second Table 



ANTITHESIS OF THE MONISTIC AND DUALISTIC 

 THEORIES OF ORGANIC LIFE 



Monistic Theory of Life 

 (Biophysics) 



1. The phenomena of life are 



merely functions of plasm, 

 determined by the phys- 

 ical, chemical, and mor- 

 phological character of the 

 living matter. 



2. The energy of the plasm (as 



the sum-total of the forces 

 which are connected with 

 the living matter) is sub- 

 ject to the general laws of 

 physics and chemistry. 



3 . The obvious regularity of the 



vital processes and the 

 organization they produce 

 are the outcome of natural 

 evolution ; their physio- 

 logical factors (heredity 

 and adaptation) are sub- 

 ject to the law of sub- 

 stance. 



4. All the various functions 



have thus been mechani- 

 cally produced, orderly 

 structures having been 

 created by adaptation and 

 transmitted to posterity 

 by heredity. 



5. Nutrition is a physico-chem- 



ical process, the metabo- 

 lism of which has an 

 analogy in inorganic ca- 

 talysis. 



6. Reproduction is a mechan- 



ical consequence of trans- 

 gressive growth, analo- 

 gous to the elective multi- 

 plication of crystals. 



DuALisTic Theory of Life 

 (Vitalism) 



1. The phenomena of life are 



w^holly or partly inde- 

 pendent of the plasm, and 

 determined by a special 

 immaterial force, the vital 

 force {vis vitalis). 



2. The energy of the plasm is 



w^iolly or partly subject 

 to the immaterial vital 

 force, which controls and 

 directs the physical and 

 chemical forces of the 

 living matter. 



3. The general regularity in the 



organization and in the 

 vital processes it accom- 

 plishes is the outcome of 

 conscious creation; it can 

 only be explained by in- 

 telligent immaterial forces 

 which are not subject to 

 the law of substance. 



4. All the various functions of 



organisms have been pro- 

 duced by design, the 

 historical evolution (or 

 phyletic transformation) 

 being directed to a pre- 

 conceived ideal end. 



5. Nutrition is an inexplicable 



miracle of life, and cannot 

 be understood by chemical 

 and physical processes. 



6. Reproduction is an inex- 



plicable miracle of life, 

 without any analogy in 

 inorganic nature. 



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