THE THEORY OF LIFE.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 14, 8 April 1867, Page 79

THE THEORY OF LIFE.

. ) ('ae,linglisl>ntan’s Uagadse.)

Mr Grove, in bis-remarkable work on the “ Correlation of : the Physical Forces,” deznonstrates the reciprocal dependence of the various imponderable ■' heat) electricity, magnetism, chemical af« finity, and ipotibn—and he expressed - his’ belief “ that muscular force, animal ! and vegetable heat, &c., might,- and- afc some ; time-will, be found to have definite corre- " lations.” Dr. Carpenter even goes so .far xr as to affirm that not" merely the materials,, but even ; the forces which are .drawn from the inorganic world, and which in various ways help in the maintenance of life, are given back to ’it again by disintegration of, living tissue which they have helped to build, and by expenditure of that vital !! force which they assisted. to develop. This remarkablo fact—for so indeed it may. be called—-may be explained in-the following mannerand' it may well excite our admiration -at the", marvellous beauty ' which exhibits so ihtimate a relation between all- parts- of the natural creation.First, let • it ‘be noticed, that plants, through the agency of light, decompose the water, • carbonic acid, aud ammonia of the air and soil, .transform these into- new. compounds, and lay them down, as it.were in the shape of tissue, thus .securing their growth and development 5 in this :pro- , cess heat is an all important agent. Now, supposing that the plants so formed, hav- - ing lived out their life, decay, it will be found that the decomposition resulting from their'decay,, exactly restores to the inorganic world the ..elements previously, derived from it, viz., water, carbonic acid, and ammonia, and in precisely the same proportions. Not only so, but- the light; and heat are also restored. -Every coalfire is a demonstration of this fact; the . heat and light are there evident enough ;' the water,' carbonic acid, and ammonia, though perhaps less evident, are there also 5 all were originally derived from the inorganic world, they are now given back to it again. - But,supposing that the plants in question are destined neither for decay nor for combustion, but for the use of the animal world, how fares -it then with- our proposition ? By the agency of more heat and oxygen- from the air the animal converts the- plant into tissue, and tissue developes vital power ; this in part - eventuates in motions and motion implies; an expenditure of force, which again ne- - cessarily entails destruction of tissue, the ■ result of motion, also developes heat, occasionally light, and very commonly electricity. So that even during the life of the. animal the cycle is completed, and at its death the same is accomplished- more-- rapidly. What, then, does all this prove, but that there is a wondrous-correlation of force, not only in phjsical, but iu vital phenomena ? That the animal and vegetable kingdoms were mutually dependent for their material wants, and that b’oth were originally fed, as it were, from tlie inorganic world, lias long been known. But science has hardly yet recognised their dynamical relations and interdependence : still less were we prepared to re- ' ceive, as a fact, the statement that life, vital energy, vital force, vital principle, ! call it what we will, is but another mode physical force 5 yet so it seems likely ~ to be. What in ah organised body we " call life, may in another body or bodies not organised.-and under :V other circum-... stances, assume the .condition of a. so* called: physical force, or any number of forces : variously arranged.