No. 498] 



PHYSIOLOGY 



417 



to physiology itself in this one aspect is also great. But 

 this now anomalous state of affairs leads directly to two 

 consequences: namely, first, that the broader biological 

 aspects of the science are less dwelt upon than otherwise 

 would be possible ; and secondly, that where such aspects 

 have been investigated the work has been done largely by 

 men not professed physiologists and usually lacking the 

 latter's exact training as experimentalists. The cus- 

 tomary academic position of the science thus imposes a 

 certain restraint upon physiological progress, and delays 

 its full fruition. 



It is idle to try to predict the ultimate fate of the 

 science that is attempting to make clear the vital process. 

 To some minds it is attractive to speculate, and even to 

 dogmatize, concerning the limits of natural knowledge. 

 The present task of the physiologist is to investigate, and 

 continue to investigate, ceaselessly and fearlessly, with a 

 spirit ever fresh and hopeful, seeking only the elusive 

 truth, unmindful of the limits of natural knowledge and 

 undeterred by the fear that the mystery of life will ever 

 remain a mystery. He must be content to spend his 

 energies in patient laboratory research, accumulating 

 facts, unifying facts and deducing laws for limited 

 spheres of vital activity, and thus to lay the foundations 

 for the broader generalizations that will come after his 

 labor has ceased. By his constant association with the 

 material substratum of the life process and the continual 

 discovery of new and undreamed-of possibilities in its 

 action, he gains a respect and even reverence for living 

 matter which only he can possess. None but he can 

 realize and understand its supreme beauty and harmony 

 and sublimity. He can not sympathize with, much less 

 share, the feeling that the material is base and only the 

 spirit is uplifting, for to him the material makes its up- 

 lifting nobility manifest. He likes to believe, and to act 

 on the belief, that no physiological problem is forever 

 insoluble, and though ignorance may be long-lived, he sees 

 no necessary reason for an ultimate, eternal i(jnor«himns. 



