410 'Pransactions.— Miscellaneous. 
current in such a medium not to be a rapid motion of translation, but a 
transmission of pressure, and believe in the opinion expressed by Silvanus 
Thomson, that electricity is one thing and not two. Tf the ether, then, 
among its other functions, produces gravitation, an intensification of its 
electrical action might reasonably he supposed to augment its gravitational 
action. Let us suppose a loop of wire to form part of a circuit, the loop 
being free to turn on an axis as the handle of a bucket is. When ihe loop 
is horizontal, like the handle of a bucket when cesting on the rim, i$ must 
be supported, or else ii will hang down. Let it therefore be supported 
from a delicate spring balance by means of a silk thread. If a powerful 
current be then sent through the loop, it will intensify the action of the 
ether, and if the ether produces gravitation the loop of wire should, X think, 
become heavier while the current was passing through it. 
Whatever gravitation may be, surely there is no reason to despair of 
finding out whether it is caused by something materia] or not. 
Arr. LIL—Js Life a Distinct Force? By R. H. Baxewett, M.D., Fellow 
of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, etc. 
[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd July, 1884.] 
Tue question I have placed at the head of this paper is one not yet seitled, 
although it may be admitted that there is a preponderance of opinion in 
favour of a negative reply. For this reason it is well worthy of discussion, 
and as it is one on which I have thought much and in connection with 
which I have made many experiments, I have selected it for discussion this 
evening. 
As this is not intended to be a metaphysical paper nor to lead to a dis- 
cussion on mere abstractions, certain postulates will be requisite. Let it 
be granted then that matter exists as ourselves and aot ourselves, that it is 
manifested to our senses by phenomena, that it is acted upon by certain 
forces or energies, and that two kinds of matter may be discerned, living and 
non-living. 
Definitions.—We define non-living matter to be that which possesses no 
power of motion in itself, nor of self-nutrition, nor of producing any change 
within itself by the action of its own parts, nor of reproduction. 
Living matter is an albuminoid compound, characterized by ihe posses- 
sion of motion in itself, that is, independent of the action of any external 
force, by being able to assimilate food or nutriment, and by being able to 
reproduce its like. 
