w. <;. STEVENSON. 95-(65) 



This new doctrine, though founded on a demonstrated 

 fact, was not complete until 1850, when Joule, having de- 

 termined the mechanical equivalent of heat and estab- 

 lished the law of thermo-dynamics, made possible the 

 classification of facts determined by Young. Melloni, Far- 

 aday, Liebig, Mayer. Grove, Helmholtz, Carpenter, Tyn- 

 dall, Henry, and others, which enabled the deduction 

 to be made of the universal laws of the " correlation and 

 conservation of energy." 



In inorganic nature unity, under law, is an accepted 

 fact, and analysis and synthesis harmonize as to causes 

 and effects ; but in the organic world there are yet many 

 unknow.n quantities, and the progress in solving the mys- 

 teries of life action is necessarily slow, because of their 

 complex character. 



To some, "vitalism" yet maintains its position in the 

 philosophic realm of organization, and a "vital force,' ' 

 independent of, and antagonistic to physical force, yet 

 presides over the manifestations of organic bodies. This, 

 if true, necessitates two distinct sciences, and two distinct- 

 orders in nature, which, though related, are not reciprocal. 

 This view is not in harmony with either chemical, physi- 

 cal or biological science of the present day, and stands 

 in direct contradiction to the accepted doctrine of the 

 correlation and conservation of energy. 



Whatever may be the essential nature of the ultimate 

 life principle — with which science has nothing to do — it 

 cannot be denied that life phenomena are presented to us 

 only through forms of matter. Matter, or material or- 

 ganization, is, therefore, so far as human knowledge goes, 

 an absolute condition upon which all life manifestations 

 depend, and to assert, as do the "vitalists," that this vi- 

 tal energy, though dependent upon a material condition 

 for a display of its action, is not related to it, but is in- 

 dependent of it and under distinct and antagonistic laws. 

 is an assumption at variance with scientific truth and rea- 

 son. 



Doubtless one common source of error in the minds of 

 the disciples of "vitalism," is from inaccurate definition, 

 confounding, as they do. the scientific meaning of a term 

 with its philosophical or metaphysical significance. 

 Thus, the term "life, " when applied to the higher ani- 

 mals, is, to the metaphysical philosopher, often related to 



