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CORRESPONDENCE. 
* * The Editor does not hold himself responsible for statements of fadts or 
opinions expressed in Correspondence, or in Articles bearing the signature 
of their respective authors. 
LIFE AND MIND, ON THE BASIS OF MODERN 
MEDICINE. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir, — In the review of the above work, which appeared in your 
November number, I notice what appears to me a radical mis- 
conception of the author’s standpoint. Allow me to make a few 
remarks in defence of his main thesis, as well as in deprecation 
of strictures on less important points. It seems almost super- 
fluous to say that his antagonism is evidently directed not against 
Science itself, but against those scientists who confine themselves 
to special subjects, which, when studied without reference to 
their bearing on questions of universal importance, can neither 
conduce to the well-being of their devotees nor increase the sum 
of human happiness. The happiest life is the highest life. He 
who combines wide culture with a thoroughly healthy organisa- 
tion has no doubt a far wider range of enjoyment than the mere 
savage, peasant, or even the average country squire ; but how 
many of our modern savans answer to this description ? Indeed 
the generally prevailing timidity and reticence which has led to 
a sort of scientific “ Concordat” with religion, and rendered an 
« outspoken ” book like “ Life and Mind ” so remarkable, must 
be abhorrent to a manly and truth-loving nature. So far is Dr. 
Lewins from being a foe to Science that the foundation of his 
thesis is identical with that of modern Physics and Biology. 
Since the demonstration by Newton that Force is an immanent, 
inalienable, universal attribute of Matter, there has been no 
excuse for animistic hypotheses. Life is but one of the Protean 
manifestations through which this all-pervading activity is mam- 
fested. That heat, light, and explosive energy should be evolved 
from the chemical union of two apparently inert substances, is 
quite as wonderful and inexplicable as that a combination of un- 
conscious atoms should form a conscious organism. It is no 
speculation, but an ascertained fadt, that the healthy or diseased 
state of thought and sensation depends upon a corresponding 
VOL. III. (THIRD SERIES). e 
