278 PROFESSOR LIONEL S. BEALE, P.R.C.P., F.R.S., ON THE 



form the substance ' Protoplasm,' it will possess all the 

 properties it is now known to have, including what is called its 

 life, and one ought not to he surprised at its announcement any 

 day'' {Matter, Ether and Motion. Society for Promoting 

 Christian Knowledge, 1899, p. 283.) This book, it is announced 

 is " intended for ordinary readers," on the ground that " it 

 brings all natural phenomena under a few clear principles."" 

 The chapter on "Physical Life" in Professor Dolbear's book, 

 seems to me quite inconsistent with belief in any form of living 

 power, above or beyond the properties of lifeless matter, and to 

 be opposed to the idea of the need of the living God in the 

 creation or government of the living world. 



Here, is one of the most recent of astronomical discoveries, as 

 recorded by a very confident reviewer and I conclude supporter, 

 of universal physical doctrines, in the last number but one of 

 the Edinhurgh Eeview (Jan. 1903, p. 140). I wonder what 

 his scientific countrymen will think of it : — " We may rest 

 assured that our intuitions of truth and beauty far from being 

 peculiar to humanity are shared perhaps in a transcendent 

 degree, by sidereal heings who knoiu as %ue know if more surely and 

 clearly, and worship %vhat we worship, though we may hope with 

 a fuller apprehension of the Eternal Majesty " ! (Italics mine.) 



It is to be hoped that the Edinburgh reviewer will inform us 

 of the nearest sidereal body which he considers to be the abode of 

 the knowing, thinking sidereal beings he postulates, and tell us 

 whether he inclines to the view, that like us they live, or if they 

 have lived, and died in past time, and what idea he has been 

 able to form of their probable composition, dimensions and 

 weight, the mode and period of their construction, and ultimate 

 destiny. 



The Microscope is an instrument of a more humble character, 

 and of capacity far inferior to that of the telescope, being 

 necessarily limited to the investigation of objects of extreme 

 minuteness, and of close proximity to us. It is of more recent 

 invention than the telescope, and is capable of great further 

 improvement. New and better methods of the microscopical 

 investigation of minute details of structure than any we now 

 possess, will probably soon be discovered. We may therefore 

 expect to learn much more than is at present known concerning 

 the wonderful phenomena of life and living growth, in living 

 organisms of all kinds. By the use of the microscope, however, 

 we are now in many instances, able to see into the very 

 substance of living matter, and to study some transparent 

 structures during their formation. In this respect we have an 



