73 LIFE 121 NATUKE. 



that the search of the physical causes hath been 

 neglected and passed in silence." 



" The search of the physical causes has been 

 neglected and passed in silence." Is not this still 

 true in respect to the form and structure of living 

 things ? Partly a genuine and natural wonder at 

 the exquisite beauty and perfection of their adapta- 

 tions which fill the mind with a sense of rest and 

 satisfaction, as if their beauty were sufficient reason 

 for their being, and exonerated the intellect from 

 inquiry into the means by which they are effected 

 and, partly, feelings less to be commended, have 

 stayed and slugged the ship of science from further 

 sailing here. 



But this is greatly to our loss. We cannot tell, 

 indeed, how greatly to our loss it may be ; or what 

 insight into grand, or even materially useful laws we 

 thus forego. This much is evident, that we lose 

 thereby the opportunity of discovering whether there 

 be proof of that unity of the vital and other laws, 

 which, if it exist, it would delight and amaze us so to 

 recognize, and which would justify us in raising to a 

 level so much higher, our entire conception of the 



