104 Life and Matter [chap.vi. 



present it knows next to nothing. If 

 physical science is interrogated as to the 

 probable persistence, i.e., the fundamental 

 existence, of " life " or of " mind," it ought 

 to reply that it does not know ; if asked 

 about " personality," or " souls," or " God," 

 about all of which Professor Haeckel has 

 fully-fledged opinions it would have to ask 

 for a definition of the terms, and would 

 speak either not at all or with bated breath 

 concerning them. 



The possibility that " life " may be a real 

 and basal form of existence, and therefore 

 persistent, is a possibility to be borne in mind. 

 It may at least serve as a clue to investiga- 

 tion, and some day may bear fruit ; at 

 present it is no better than a working 

 hypothesis. It is one that on the whole 

 commends itself to me ; for I conceive that 

 though we only know of it as a function of 

 terrestrial matter, yet that it has another 

 aspect too, and I say this because I see it 

 arriving and leaving animating matter for 

 a time and then quitting it, just as I see 



