276 PEOFESSOE LIONEL S. BEALE, F.E.C.P.^ F.E.S., ON THE 



of all nature, at last to be understood by mankind — making it 

 clear how the living comes from the non-living — both being 

 directed, governed, and sustained, by the same universal 

 physical laws. Unfortunately, however, the idea of " The 

 Physical Oneness of the Universe," can only apply to the 

 infinite non-living 'part thereof. So far from the operation of 

 physical law having been proved in anything that lives, the 

 doctrine, as I have shown, is not supported by any one fact 

 characteristic of life. ISTo thinker who has studied the facts of 

 life and growth in any one living thing, or the process of tissue 

 formation, as it may be investigated in the animal or vegetable 

 world, will admit that the dogma of the " Physical Oneness of 

 the Universe," is applicable to any kind or state of life. He 

 who holds this dogma to be true, must have concentrated his 

 thoughts on that vast part of the Universe, vjliich is and must 

 ever he absolidely devoid of all life. 



The Telescope, designed and constructed in the early days of 

 modern scientific discovery and progress, improved and still 

 improving, has gradually brought nearer and nearer to the 

 comprehension of man, some of the inexhaustible wonders of 

 the lifeless celestial orbs, and the results of the operation of 

 the universal law, by which their never-ceasing movements are 

 governed. There is no evidence that these vast aggregates of 

 lifeless material atoms, have ever been for a moment through 

 the ages, the seat of one spark of life, or of the movements of 

 ■one single living particle. Can we suppose that any living 

 thing known to us here, could approach within thousands of 

 miles of the nearest of them ? Has not the successful 

 investigation of the external part of many, proved the presence 

 •of some of the most refractory substances known, being in a 

 state of vapour at a temperature, which we of this world are 

 unable to realize ? Must not many, if not all, of these colossal 

 collections of inorganic matter be destitute of water, in which 

 case nothing which can in any way compare with one single 

 form of life known to us, could possibly exist in those remote 

 regions so far removed from any means we possess of their 

 minute investigation ? 



The more minutely and successfully physical investigation 

 can be carried out, the more widely will physical phenomena be 

 shown to be separated from every vital change or action. 

 Physical and vital changes are, and must ever be, as the poles 

 iisunder. Between the movements of living matter, and those 

 of lifeless matter of any kind, there is no analogy. 



For little more than fifty years has the study of the minute 



