w. a. stevexsox. 87-(57) 



under, and the land used for some other purpose. We 

 will thus have "drawn the fire' ' of the enemy, and at the 

 same time entirely prevented the eggs laid from matur- 

 ing, thus completely obliterating those branches of the 

 family. 



Whatever methods of extermination may be adopted. 

 it is of urgent importance that no more weevils be allow- 

 ed to emerge alive from the crops already stored. 



MARCH 22, 1882.— FIFTH STATED MEETING. 



L. C. Cooley, Ph.D., Chairman, presiding; eighteen 

 members present. 



Dr. J. Bockee presented a specimen of Selaginella Lep- 

 idophylla from Texas. 



A paper was read entitled 



THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF VITAL FORCE. 



BY WILLIAM G. STEVENSON, M. D. 



Modern science lias so extended the horizon of our 

 mental perspective, has achieved such brilliant triumphs 

 in so many departments of thought, and, on the basis of 

 verified fact, has erected such an imposing superstruc- 

 ture of useful knowledge in the domain of inorganic na- 

 ture, that some, rejecting the vitalistic theories of the 

 past, have accepted the belief that the deeper mysteries 

 of vital phenomena will, in a final analysis, be demon- 

 strated to be but resultants of physical forces acting 

 under the complex conditions of organization. 



To investigate and interpret the varied phenomena of 

 nature is the unquestioned prerogative of the human in- 

 tellect ; but science, having to do only with "particular 

 orders of phenomena which exist in relation to the per- 

 cipient mind" and are susceptible of verification, does 

 not hope to solve the profound mysteries involved in the 

 ultimate realities of either matter, energy or life. 



With restless energy the human mind presses on in its 

 search for truth, and brings from varied sources new 

 facts to add to the sum of knowledge, until the conclusion 

 is reached that matter is indestructible and energy per- 

 sistent, and in the formulated laws of the "correlation and 

 conservation of energy '" the widest generalizations are 



