"5. 



de 



P^t'ens, par 

 ^^ un creation,' 

 possibility 



e 



^g things onl 

 iSj but Buroad 

 Dctrine, as maj 

 :aken from tk 



: notre 



une 



ctuelj qu a 



itable pour b 



I soient (otm 



par la voie ^e 



fait et autres 



exuberance t 



oint avoir 



k 



I 



I 



\ 



)eut 



avoir 



■c 



5 



elle ne 



t'te 

 etc 



sau- 



I 



¥ 



imitee r 



uan'^ 



> 



a 



.y K 





\ 



I 



I 



dan- 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



247 



quoiqu'elle ne maintienne les formes organiques supe- 



rieures que par la seule propagation, il ne repugne point 

 au bon sens de penser qu'aujourd'hui encore elle a la 

 puissance de produire les formes inferieures avec des 



elle a cree 



origmaire- 



elements heterogenes, comme 



ment tout ce qui possede Torganisation/ But, although 



this 



shows that Burdach believed in the 



possibility of the origin of living things from what 



are 



called 



not-living materials, nevertheless, he 



did 



not believe that in such a case there would be a 

 creation of a something altogether new, which we term 

 ^Life.V This divergence arises from the nature of his 

 theoretical views. The whole universe is to him the 

 organism of organisms, and endowed with Life. Else- 

 where ^ he says:— ^ Mais si Tunivers est Torganisme 

 absolu, chacune de ses parties doit etre un tout or- 

 ganique * . . ^ • II y a plus encore : la force du 

 tout doit etre inherente ^ chaque chose particuliere, 

 et efFectivement nous rencontrons des traces de vte dans 

 toute existence ^uelconque^.^ Similar considerations have 

 to be taken into account before we can thoroughly 

 comprehend the doctrines of Pouchet, and those of 

 Buffon, Needham, and others who are professed 



4 d 



* ' Traite de Physiol.' t. iv. p. 149. 



^ The relation of Force to Life seems to have been clearly seen by 

 Burdach, whose doctrine approximates to that of Schelling. We differ 

 only in restricting the attribute ' living ' to its conventional use ; though 

 we fully recognize that all things — w^hether living or not-living — are 

 fundamentally related from the point of view of the origin of their 



4 



* properties/ or ' qualities/ 



