44 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



unknown in the inorganic world, as blood, flesh, bone, &c. ; how it 

 prevents putrefaction and decay, which set in as soon as life is gone ; 

 and many other things familiar to all. 



If we cannot explain the power of life we are not likely to know its 



essence or nature, much less its origin. 



Haeckel, whom McCabe would seem to represent in England, 

 thinks all things may be grouped into one substance, matter and 

 force ; why, therefore, not into two is not clear. This is the basis of 

 his theory of monism. Moreover, Haeckel makes Darwin respon- 

 sible for this theory of monism. He says : " Darwin has not only 

 proved by his theory of selection that the orderly processes in the life and 

 structure of animals and plants have arisen by the mechanical laws 

 without any preconceived design, but he has shown us in the 1 struggle 

 for life ' the powerful natural force which has exerted supreme control 

 over the entire course of organic evolution for millions of years." * 



I italicize the two most obvious fallacies in the above assertion. No 

 theory can prove anything. It has itself to be proved to be true first. 

 A struggle for life is not a force ; the unfit only die from developing 

 " injurious," f i.e. inadaptive and consequently suicidal, variations of 

 structure. The feature ignored in Haeckel's theory of evolution is 

 the necessity for something to direct force which is not a force itself. 

 The " conservation of force " is a recognized principle, but it has 

 nothing to do with guidance or directivity ; it deals with the quantity 

 of force only, but this does not exclude the existence of guidance. Sir 

 O. Lodge observes on the monistic view of absorbing life among the 

 forms of force : "I hold that it is false ; because the essential pro- 

 perty of energy is that it can [metaphorically] transform itself into 

 other forms, remaining constant in quantity ; whereas life does not 

 add to the stock of any known form of energy, nor does death affect the 

 sum of energy in any known way." \ 



Sir 0. Lodge suggests that " Life had a pre-existence in some sense, 

 being called out, as it were, from some great reservoir or storehouse of 

 vitality, to which, when its earthly career is ended, it will return." 

 Perhaps ether may be this vehicle of life, if there be any truth in his 

 surmise. 



Such a suggestion might, in imagination, apply to all animals 

 and plants ; but an exception must be made with man, for his 

 individuality or personality will undoubtedly remain, if we accept 

 the widest inductive evidence. 



Sir O. Lodge observes that " The serious mistake made concerning 

 this law of energy is to imagine that it denies the possibility of guidance, 

 control, or directing agency." § Yet it is perfectly obvious that 

 animals, though purely automatic, do exercise at least a guidance 

 of forces on matter, as in making nests, &c. In other words, it is the 

 life within them which does it, and so exhibits purposeful results. 

 Man differs from all other animals in being self-conscious and able to 



* Riddle of the Universe, p. 276. 

 f Life and Matter, p. 157. 



% Origin of Species, &c, p. 63. 

 § Life and Matter, p. 23. 



