CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN LIFE 



Goethe's poetical genius created Wagner, Faust's 

 famulus, mysteriously mixing hundreds of sub- 

 stances in his retort upon the chemical hearth, 



" denn auf Mischung kommt es an," 



it was the reflection upon the great poet of myriads 

 of scientific phantasms of that time, as to whether 

 it were not within the reach of possibility to com- 

 pound Life itself from the elements which Chem- 

 istry had shown to be the pillars of the Universe, 

 and which were contained in every animate and 

 inanimate part of the visible world. 



Again, further, the renaissance of Materialism 

 in the last century was the consequence of the 

 marvellous progress of Exact Science, which even 

 showed us the elementary structure of planets 

 and fixed stars, and taught us to construct in the 

 laboratory the vital compounds of animals and 

 plants, such as sugar, fat, and protein bodies, from 

 their very elements. 



Here I need not give an extensive sketch of the 

 Natural Philosophy of our time in its relation to 

 Biology, and especially to Physiology. Only a 

 few remarks on the importance of experimental 

 physical and chemical methods in Biology may be 

 added. The enormous advance of our chemical 

 and physical knowledge of the life process may 

 easily lead to too far-reaching opinions on the 

 unique significance of these methods. Can Life be 

 explained by Physics and Chemistry ? Are our 

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