" It has been definitely stated, and the statement has been re- 

 peated more than once, that the whole ' world, living and non- 

 living,' has resulted by ' the mutual interaction' of 'forces possessed 

 by the molecules, of which the primitive nebulosity of the universe 

 was composed.'" And again, Dr. Huxley writes — "It is no less 

 certain that the existing world lay, potentially, in the cosmic vapour; 

 and that a sufficient intelligence could, from a knowledge of the 

 properties of the molecules of that vapour, have predicted, say the 

 state of the Fauna of Britain in 1869, with as much certainty as one 

 can say what will happen to the vapour of the breath in a cold 

 winter's day." 



The manifest reply to all such statements and their confutation, 

 would be as follows : — that an essential difference exists, and can 

 be shown between bioplasm, admitted to be the nearest discovered 

 ultimate element of organic substances and all inorganic matter 

 whatsoever ; and it may safely be asserted that this statement 

 has been triumphantly vindicated by the latest and best qualified 

 expositors of biological science. 



If, as the advocates of the physical theory assert, the action and 

 energy of bioplasm be but one of the natural forces, and, in fact, 

 a property of matter, it is highly probable that, in accordance with 

 the now established theory of the correlation of forces, this one 

 would be found identified with some other of these forces. 

 Hence, an interchange between the vital force and such an one 

 as that of heat, or light, or electricity, would be effected, and we 

 should have the results of the former produced by the latter. But 

 all experience, the latest as well as the earliest, goes in a directly 

 opposite direction. No natural agent whatever has been discovered 

 which takes the place of the vital principle. 



The following is the concluding portion of the paper as 

 delivered, the portions above given being merely an abstract of the 

 whole : — 



" Notwithstanding this, in my judgment at least, overpowering 

 weight of argument and fact on one side of the question under 

 consideration, I feel bound to mention certain views lately advanced 

 on the opposite side, before concluding this paper. In a volume 



