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arrived at a more satisfactory opinion yet as to what life is, or how it gets 
where it is found, than is obtained from the account given by the historian 
of creation, who tells us that man having been made, God “ breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life.” 
Captain F. Petrie. — Before this discussion closes, I would venture to refer 
to Professor Lionel Beale’s most valuable Address, as President for 1879-80 
of the Koyal Microscopical Society. In that Address he treats of the phe- 
nomena of living matter, and after a careful examination of the subject 
concludes thus : — 
“ I venture to throw the most important conclusions into the form of pro- 
positions. 
“ The phenomena of living matter are not due to the properties of the 
matter. Vital actions are of an order absolutely distinct from any known 
physical actions. 
“ Life force, or power, has not been, and cannot be, evolved in any way 
from matter only, nor is it a consequence of changes occurring in matter ; 
but, on the contrary, life influences and determines changes in the matter, 
which changes are quite peculiar. 
“ The vital phenomena of the lowest simplest forms of living matter are 
of the same general nature as those of the highest, and are as tar removed as 
are the latter from any kind of physical change. 
“ The assertion that any low forms of life are near to, or establish any 
transition towards, the inorganic, is not justified by any facts known to 
science. 
“ The attempts made to make the public believe that the so-called proper- 
ties of living matter belong to the same order or category as that in which 
known properties of known forms of non-living matter can be included, are 
not to be justified by an appeal to facts, and are therefore contrary to the 
principles of science. 
“ Every vital phenomenon is absolutely different in its nature from every 
physical (mechanical or chemical) action. There is no analogy whatever 
between the two sets of phenomena. 
“ The present state of knowledge justifies the conclusion that no form of 
living matter existing at present, nor any one which existed in the past, 
directly originated from non-living matter, or in any way derived its powers 
or properties from the non-living.” 
The meeting was then adjourned. 
ADDENDUM. 
The closing observations of Professor G. G. Stokes, F.R.S., in his Address 
as President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in 
1872, may not be out of place here. He said : — 
“ What this something, which we call Life, may be, is a profound mystery. 
We know not how many links in the chain of secondary causation may yet 
