hose
which are presented by matter viewed under any other aspect,
mechanical, electrical, chemical, or what not. It is beside the
question to point to the fact that in Nature 'new elements are making
their appearance and old elements disappearing,' for though we may
speculate as to the manner of formation of uranium and thorium, and
though the production of radio-active matters in Nature at the present
time and always seems to be a well-established fact, such phenomena
have not even an analogy with those of a living being, however
humble."[7]

It cannot be surprising that those who believe {81} the door to be
shut, so to speak, in the direction of any theory of development
through mechanical and chemical agencies alone, should look elsewhere
for the solution of a problem which science is bound to do its very
utmost to solve. This is what, as a matter of fact, is happening; and
it is of the very deepest interest to observe the nature of the
suggested explanation. It is no other than a revived form of the
ancient doctrine of a "vital force," which we had imagined to have been
finally discarded. There is this difference, however, and it is
all-important. The force is not, as formerly supposed, some unique
kind of energy; is not, indeed, energy at all. But we shall do best to
state the new doctrine in the words of its leading exponents.

Professor Anton Kerner, one of the most distinguished German writers on
Botany, in his _Natural History of Plants_, speaking of the chemical
explanation, says: "It does not explain the purposeful sequence of
different operations in the same protoplasm without any change in the
external stimuli; the thorough use made of external advantages; the
resistance to injurious influences; the avoidance or encompassing of
insuperable obstacles; the punctuality with which all the functions are
performed; the periodicity which occurs with the greatest regularity
under constant conditions of environment; {82} nor, above all, the fact
that the power of discharging all the operations requisite for growth,
nutrition, renovation and multiplication is liable to be lost."

And then he gives his opinion thus: "I do not hesitate again to
designate as vital force this natural agency, not to be identified with
any other, whose immediate instrument is the protoplasm, and whose
peculiar effects we call life."

Sir Oliver Lodge is, perhaps, the most uncompromising advocate of the
newer vitalism in England.