VITALITY. 65 



different from, and in no way correlated with, 

 matter and its ordinary forces," is untenable. 

 Neither can it be held that the reasoning 

 advanced by him in any way justifies the accept- 

 ance of the hypothesis that life is correlated 

 force. This physical doctrine restricts advance 

 and retards scientific progress. It cannot be 

 accepted without straining, to a degree quite 

 unwarrantable, arguments which are based upon 

 conjectures instead of facts, and denying or 

 ignoring many well authenticated facts which 

 have resulted from numerous observations, and 

 can be confirmed without difficulty. On the 

 other hand, the theory of " vitality" helps us 

 to explain many phenomena otherwise inex- 

 plicable at this time, while it is not incompati- 

 ble with any of the truths of physical science. 



