pinion when he said that "some advance in that direction
had become necessary, and old-fashioned physicists like himself had
either to take part in it or run the risk of becoming obsolete."

For the discussion about "Life," the three sections of Physiology,
Zoology, and Botany were combined. Professor Moore stood stoutly for
the older views, and "believed that he could demonstrate a step which
connected inorganic with organic creation." Then he gave an abstruse
and highly technical account of a process by which in "solutions of
colloidal ferric hydroxide, exposed to strong sunlight," compounds
could be formed similar to those to be found in the green plant. With
a proper grouping of molecules it might be imagined how "colloidal
aggregates appeared," and eventually "organic colloids" which "acquired
the property of transforming light energy into chemical activity." The
speakers who followed seemed to be agreed that, even were such
"potentially living matter" to be produced, we should have reached, not
the discovery of the secret of life, but only the construction of "its
physical vehicle." Professor Hartog strongly protested against the
notion that there was "a consensus {97} of opinion among biologists
that life was only one form of chemical and physical actions which
could be reduced in the laboratory." He wished it to be understood
that "the preponderance of weight among scientific men" was opposed to
such a position.

{98}

CONCLUSION

It is dangerous to generalise; and, when as in this survey we are
attempting to indicate broadly the trend of the thought of an age, we
have more than ordinary need to be on our guard lest we should
sacrifice truth to the desire for a seeming completeness of logical
presentation. For fear, then, of misunderstanding, let it be clearly
remembered that in what has been said we have had no wish to suggest
that all minds have moved at the same pace, or even in the same
direction; but only that certain strong tendencies were observable,
which gave colour and character to the mental stream at the particular
stages in its course. It is with a full sense of the possibility of
exaggeration, and of the necessity of holding the balance even, that we
shall now make our final attempt to sum up as concisely as possible
what we have been able to gather in regard to the thought-movement of
the period we have had under review. There can be no danger of
misstatement in saying that, al