ical energies into the domain of the vital, but holds
decidedly to the proposition _omne vivum e vivo_. He therefore maintains
that life has always existed in the cosmos, and entirely rejects
spontaneous generation.

The fallacy, he says, of the mechanistic claims was due to the increasing
number of physical explanations of isolated vital phenomena, and of
imitations of the chemical products of organic metabolism. A wrong
conclusion was drawn from these. "Any one who hopes to deduce from the
chemical and physical properties of the fertilised egg the necessity that
an animal, tormented by hunger and love must, after a certain time, arise
therefrom, has a pathetic resemblance to the miserable manufacturers of
homunculi." Life is one of the underivable and inexplicable fundamental
functions of universal being. From all eternity life has only been
produced from life.

As Preyer accepts the Kant-Laplace theory of the origin of our earth from
the sun, he reaches ideas which have points of contact with the
"cosmo-organic" ideas of Fechner. Life was present even when the earth was
a fiery fluid sphere, and was possibly more general and more abundant then
than it is now. And life as we know it may only be a smaller and isolated
expression of that more general life.(80)

Among the younger generation of specialists, those most often quoted as
opponents of the mechanical theory are probably Bunge, Rindfleisch, Kerner
von Marilaun, Neumeister and Wolff. A special group among them, not very
easy to classify, may be called the Tectonists. Associated with them is
Reinke's "Theory of Dominants." Driesch started from their ranks, and is a
most interesting example of consistent development from a recognition of
the impossibilities of the mechanistic position to an individually
thought-out vitalistic theory. Hertwig, too, takes a very definite
position of his own in regard to these matters. Perhaps the most original
contribution in the whole field is Albrecht's "Theory of Different Modes
of Regarding Things." We may close the list with the name of K. C.
Schneider, who has carried these modern ideas on into metaphysical
speculation. Several others might be mentioned along with and connecting
these representative names.(81)

The Position Of Bunge and Other Physiologists.

For a long time one of the most prominent figures in the controversy was
Prof. G. Bunge, of Basle, who was one of the first modern physiologists to
champion vi