OF THE VITAL PHENOMENA. 



5 



us at the present day are not sufficient to explain the formation 

 of a plantcell, the process of generation or the conduction of the 

 sense-impressions to the brain. 1 ) " 



Among those who most emphatically denied the necessity for 

 the hypothesis of a special supernatural force were : Schleidcn, 

 Mattcucci, Moleschott, Huxley, Hacckcl, R. Mayer, F. Hiippe, 

 Heidenhain and Halliburton. Schleiden 2) uttered the following 

 philippica : " Only ignorance and indolence of spirit are the 

 defenders of the vital force at the present state of development 

 of the natural sciences, of a force that can accomplish every- 

 thing and explain everything, and of which nobody can tell, how 

 it acts nor what laws it obeys. The savage, who takes a 

 locomotive for a wild animal, is not more ignorant, than the 

 natural philosopher who talkes about vital force in organisms." 



Mattcucci: " to explain everything by vital force, and yet not 

 to know the laws of this supposed force, explains nothing; it is 

 even worse than nothing, it prevents the mind from searching 

 after the truth. 3 ) " 



Moleschott: "Life is not the result of a specific force, it is a 

 certain state of matter caused by peculiar motions produced by 

 heat and light, water and air, electricity and mechanical con- 

 vulsions. 4 ) " 



Th. Huxley 5 * : " To speak in what is not altogether a 

 metaphor, the atoms, which enter the body are for the most part 

 piled up in large heaps and tumble down into small heaps 

 before they leave it. The force, which they set free in thus 

 tumbling down, is the active power of the organism." Huxley 

 forgets, however, to mention the cause of the " tumbling down." 

 Haechel takes the question still easier, he finds the formation of 

 a cell as simple as that of a crystal, and assumes the existence 

 of sensation and motion in every atom. This "soul" is 

 modified and perfected by the development of the organisms. 6 ' 



Very naturally Robert Mayer did not believe in a mysterious 



1) Lehrbuch der organ. Chem. 3rd Ed. p. 6. 



2) Grundziige der wissenschaftl. Botanik I, p. 60 (1844) 



3) Lezioni sui fenomeni fisico-chimici dei corpi viventi. 2d Ed. p. 10. (1846) 



4) Kraft and Stoff, 3rd Ed. p, 256 (1856) 



5) Lessons on elementary physiology, lesson VII (1870). 



6) Generelle Morphologie der Organismen, Vol. I p. 143 and 148. See also: 

 Tageblatt der Naturforscherversammlung zu Miinchen 1877 p. 22. 



