ON MATTER AND FORCE. 43 



Before I proceed, let me state most distinctly, 

 that what I shall say regarding Life will not 

 apply only to man, but will be just as truly 

 applicable to every other class of animals down 

 to the infusoria and protozoa, and, beyond 

 these, to the whole extent of the vegetable 

 creation, in which no reason, no mind, no soul, 

 can by any stretch of the imagination be sup- 

 posed to exist. 



In this theatre, at least, there can be no fear 

 of misapprehension, no danger of mistake, from 

 any confusion of our ideas of life with our ideas 

 of the immortal soul. And, however much 

 these ideas may be generally confounded and in- 

 distinct, to us at least the question whether, first, 

 a peculiar vital spirit can temporarily lodge in 

 the matter of the body ; or whether, secondly, a 

 peculiar imponderable vital fluid can temporarily 

 be diffused through the matter of the body ; or 

 whether, thirdly, a peculiar form of motion of 

 the matter of the body is all we can recognise 

 as constituting life; each and all of these 

 questions, I say, can never be considered by us 

 to have anything whatever in common with any 

 question regarding the existence of the immortal 

 soul. 



