46 LIFE IN NATURE. 



process essentially the same is presented to us conti- 

 nually in nature under every variety of form : a 

 change of one kind producing its opposite. It is this 

 to which (in its mechanical form) the name of Vibra- 

 tion has been applied; as when a tense string that 

 has been deflected from the straight line is let go, its 

 motion towards the central line reproduces the deflec- 

 tion ; the one motion producing the force, which the 

 other, as it were, uses, or absorbs. 



The vital force, from carbonic acid, water, and 

 ammonia, produces albumen ; chemical force from 

 albumen produces carbonic acid, water, and am- 

 monia. These two processes are not only different, 

 they are strictly opposite to each other, and because 

 they are opposite, they are so closely interlinked. 

 The opposition of life to chemistry is the secret of 

 its source. Life is an action produced by its 

 opposite. It has its root in death, and is nourished 

 by decay. 



The first suggestion of this view, as I have 

 recently become aware, appears to have been made 

 by Dr. Freke, of Dublin, who, in a work " On 

 Organization," published in 1848, endeavoured to 



