WHAT LIFE IS 9 



put forward, and least of all in that of Haeckel, who comes 

 before us with what he claims to be a solution of the Riddle 

 of the Universe. 



Huxley on the Nature and Origin of Life 



Although our greatest philosophical biologist, the late Pro- 

 fessor T. H. Huxley, opposed the theory of a '' vital force " 

 as strongly as Haeckel himself, I am inclined to think that 

 he did so because it is a mere verbal explanation instead of 

 being a fundamental one. It conceals our real ignorance un- 

 der a special term. In his Introduction to the Classification 

 of Animals (1869), in his account of the Rhizopoda (the 

 group including the Amoebse and Foraminifera), he says: 



"Nor is there any group in the animal kingdom which more 

 admirably illustrates a very well-founded doctrine, and one which 

 was often advocated by John Hunter, that life is the cause and not 

 the consequence of organisation; for in these lowest forms of ani- 

 mal life there is absolutely nothing worthy of the name of organi- 

 sation to be discovered by the microscopist, though assisted by the 

 beautiful instruments that are now constructed. . . . It is 

 structureless and organless, and without definitely formed parts. 

 Yet it possesses all the essential properties and characters of vitality. 

 Nay, more, it can produce a shell; a structure, in many cases, of 

 extraordinary complexity and most singular beauty. 



" That this particle of jelly is capable of guiding physical forces 

 in such a manner as to give rise to those exquisite and almost 

 mathematically-arranged structures — being itself structureless 

 and without permanent distinction or separation of parts — is 

 to my mind a fact of the profoundest significance'^ (p. 10). 



This was written only a year after the celebrated lecture 

 on " The Physical Basis of Life," in which Huxley made 

 statements which seem opposed to those above quoted, and which 

 certainly appear to be less philosophical. For example, he 

 says that when carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are 

 combined with some other elements, they produce carbonic acid, 

 water, and nitrogenous salts. These compounds are all life- 



