"LIFE."

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4284, 23 September 1882, Page 3

"LIFE."

" (To the Editor of the Evening Stab.) Sib,—" The unknown is unknowable." Tb.l9 erroneous proposition mars nearly, all the. writing and speaking of theologians. . Had snch a " beggarly account of empty boxes," Buch a " vain and most impotent conclusion,*' governed the minds and regulated the conduct of philosophers and inventors, none of the wonderful, great, and useful "discoveries of science would have been made which now civilise, enlighten, and bless mankind. The world would have remained a chaos, and man barbarous. The upon " Life " which;have appeared in your paper, not' .withstanding many excellencies, are spoiled by this defect, for the very opposite of the illogical and misleading postulate quoted is the aim and object of scientific learning and.enlightened invesfi gat ion. The title of the lecture naturally led to the expectation of something ; • explanatory of the principle of .existence, i but we hare instead a disquisition upon its phenomena, and a most unsatisfactory conclusion pf;the impossibility of know ing its principle. In physiology the. word jjUfe.",is applied toindicate the sum total of fanctions which mark thestate of organic things.. „What life is in its essential principles is. not yet fully known, and . therefore . the various definitions of it are at present inexact from-the partial ignorance of the condi tions requiring complete exposition. Recent biological investigation, -however, tends very much to connect life with protoplasm as. a property of' that substance, 1 and'is not so far removed from demonstration as the revd. lecturer seems to think. The minutest speck of protoplasm may constitute of itself a complete animal!... Carbon^oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are in themselves lifeless bodies, but., when brought together in certain properties they form or constitute a protoplasm, and this so formed substance exhibits energy and other vital phenomena. This sequence of formation of protoplasm from inorganic elements, goes far to demonstrate the proposition of life being a-property of protoplasm. When component- parts form a gas, substance or liquid, we are ;not required to assume, nor do we assume, that some other thing of which we are entirely ignorant entered into and formed,that substance, gas, or liquid. Yet this is what we are required to do by those who contend for the miraculous creation of man, and postulate the existence of a new force—vitality—to account for the actions and development of living matter... It cannot be reasonably denied that known chemical and physical forces may yet produce life or vital actions, and that it should not be regarded entirely, as an independent force or principle which invests matter without being of it.- Cheering hopes may be entertained for the future of the human race.; In'-the next century much greater gain may be expected in the domain of reason,' science, and truth, than in the last thousand years. The power of priestcraft will be terribly shaken, if not whbllybvertbrown, and certain knowledge will 'supplant religious mysticism and superstitious vagaries. The religion of the future must be the religion of humanity, and will embrace all that benefits mankind, morally, physically and intellectually. How, to teach the race what is needful for them, how to live healthfully and in accordance with physiological laws, how to lessen disease, how to increase longevity, how to select and perfect . the wisest and best social conditions, bow to live usefully,' amicably, and happily, how to control, the baser passions, how to acquire the most intelligence, how to gain and impart the'most scientific imformation will be the labor of coming generations— pagodas, mosques, synagogues, cathedrals, churches, and chapels will hot be erected as; much as now, but more schools of science, more institutions of learning freed from all sectarianism. The world will need fewer oracles, dervishes and f priests, monks, pastors, and elders,-but more teachers of science and the manifold laws of the universe.—l am, &c, Cbedenda. [We have never beard anyone yet state that the.unknown is unknowable; Mr Herbert Spencer, quite as eminent an authority as:' 1 Credenda," says the origin of life is probably undiscoverable.—Ed.]