COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



logical knowledge, — as the complex structures 

 and regular modes of growth of the lower ani- 

 mals began to be better understood, and as the 

 microscope began to disclose the existence of 

 countless forms of life infinitesimal in size but 

 complicated in organization, many of which were 

 proved to be propagated either by fission or by 

 some kind of germination, — the doctrine omne 

 vivum ex vivo became more and more impli- 

 citly regarded as a prime article of faith, and the 

 hypothesis of spontaneous generation was not 

 merely scouted as absurd, but neglected as un- 

 worthy of notice. 



Philosophical theories conspired with obser- 

 vation and experiment to bring about this re- 

 sult. The doctrine omne vivum ex vivo con- 

 sorted well with the metaphysical hypothesis of 

 an archaws, or " vital principle," by means of 

 which Stahl and Paracelsus sought to explain 

 the dynamic phenomena manifested by living 

 organisms. In those days when it was the fash- 

 ion to explain every mysterious group of phe- 

 nomena by imagining some entity behind it, 

 the activities displayed by living bodies were 

 thought to be explained when they were called 

 the workings of a " vital principle " inherent in 

 the living body, but distinct from it and sur- 

 viving unchanged amid its manifold alterations. 

 If a stone falls to the ground, that is a manifes- 

 tation of gravitative force ; but if a stream of 

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