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rambling talk concerning questions wbicli can only be deter- 
mined by observation, experiment, and reason, should be 
listened to by intelligent persons, is but evidence of tlie decay 
of thought and the general love of submitting to the dictation 
of a tyrannical, materialistic coterie, which, being at this time 
very popular, attempts to arrogantly dominate over sense and 
reason. 
He who studies any living thing in existence at any period 
of its life, or the smallest portion of any form of living matter, 
will soon be convinced that it would not be correct to say that 
it was like anything else in nature, except some other form of 
living matter. For it will be found that certain phenomena 
which characterised the particular living particle characterise 
all living particles of which we have any knowledge or expe- 
rience. Further investigation will convince an inquirer that 
vital phenomena are not comparable with any phenomena be- 
longing to non-living matter. They are, in fact, peculiar to 
living matter. Between purely vital and purely physical 
actions not the faintest analogy has been shown to exist. The 
living world is absolutely distinct from the non-living world, 
and, instead of being a nece&sary outcome of it, is, compared 
with the antiquity of matter, probably a very recent addition 
to it — not, of course, an addition of mere transformed or 
modified matter and energy, but of transcendent power 
conferred on matter, by which both matter and its forces are 
controlled, regulated, and arranged according, it may be, to 
laws, but not the laws of inert matter. 
It is not only one or two of the positions assumed by the 
materialist that are open to doubt or objection. The whole 
contention is, and has been during the last twenty years, utterly 
untenable, because facts have been known which completely 
controvert all materialistic views which have been put forward. 
Mere popularity, it need scarcely be said, goes for very little, 
unless the facts and arguments urged in favour of the doctrines 
can be shown to rest upon evidence. Neither is it a question 
of much consequence how confident individuals may be who 
countenance or endorse the hypothesis, That any vital 
action in nature is due to physical forces only. Nor 
can concurrence of opinion on the part of even a large 
society, or a tendency of thought, however marked, be 
accepted as conclusive. What is required is, that the 
arguments advanced in favour of this view should bear the 
test of examination. Instead of this being the case, many 
of these arguments have been over and over again conclusively 
shown to be worthless ; and a critical examination more 
thorough than that to which they have been hitherto submitted 
