184 CONCLUSION. CHAP. XTTT. 



whole force which produces the evolution as being 

 possessed by, or as residing in, the germ, it will be 

 the author's object to prove that it is of external 

 origin." . . . . " That the vital force which causes the 

 primordial cell of the germ first to multiply itself, 

 and then to develope itself into a complex and 

 extensive organism, was not either originally locked 

 up in that single cell, nor was it latent in the 

 materials which are progressively assimilated by 

 itself and its descendants ; but is directly and imme- 

 diately supplied by the Heat which is constantly 

 operating upon it, and which is transformed into 

 vital force by its passage through the organized 

 fabric that manifests it." Now the influence of 

 external agencies upon the developement of an 

 organism is not to be denied; but when we speak 

 of Heat being converted into vital force, or that 

 Light is converted into vital force, that Heat and 

 Light are absorbed as it were and converted, we 

 are then considering these forces as entities; not 

 that Dr. Carpenter goes to that extent, for he 

 speaks of the necessity of a ' material substratum ;' 

 but the language employed leads to this conclusion. 

 The error arises from the employment of the term 

 conversion, which expresses inadequately the meaning 

 that is intended to be conveyed by it. When we 

 speak of electricity being converted into magnetism 

 when a current of electricity traverses a helix, the 

 two forces, magnetism and the current, are produced 

 and exist at the same time ; there is no change of 



