ERGCAINSAS Clpy 
REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 
SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 
MONE. IV. FEBRUARY, 1881. NO. 10. 
PEREOSO@Or iY: 
THE NEW HYPOTHBSIS. 
BY HON. R. T. VAN HORN, KANSAS CITY, MO. 
The mind of man is so constituted that it is not content with mere formula, 
but is always searching for facts. Each new discovery is but a point of depart- 
ure in the ultimate inquiry, whence are we? And while this question has been 
the one of all ages and of all research, it remains unanswered. It is unlike that 
other universal question: ‘‘If a man die shall he live again?” the answers to 
which are as voluminous as religions and supernatural literature. Upon this 
question rests the ecclesiastical structures of the world in all ages, as well as the 
occult teachings of the mystics of every degree in all time. Its affirmation is 
woven into all systems of jurisprudence and underlies the laws of all civilized 
nations, as well as the customs of barbarous races and tribes of men. That it is 
not proved by methods that afford demonstration matters not; mankind rests 
upon it to-day, always has so rested, and it is but logical to conclude, will make it 
the one fundamental idea of their moral government while humanity endures. 
The question of life, however, is treated from a different standpoint, and, 
depending less upon mere dogma, its solution has been sought by scientific meth- 
ods; facts have ,been found from which hypotheses have been born, and the 
tules of philosophic induction applied to discover the secret. Or, in other 
words, the origin of life has been sought by physical research and the physical 
basis of life has become a thing of the schools. This may be called the modern 
method, for it has only been possible since chemistry and the microscope have 
been the familiar agents of investigation. Much of the literature of science has 
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