Some Modern Aspects of the Life-Question

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Excerpt from Some Modern Aspects of the Life-Question: Address of Prof. George F. Barker, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Boston Meeting, August, 1880Moreover, the progress which has been made in the solution of the life-question has been gained chie¿y by investigation of special functions. But the functions of a vital organism are themselves vital. What then is the meaning of vital as applied to a function Fortunately the answer is not difficult. Life, says Kuss, the distinguished Strasbourg physiologist, is all that cannot be explained by chemistry or physics.3 Guided by such a definition the work of the physiological investigator is simple. He has only to test each separate Operation which he finds going On in the organism and to declare whether it be chemical or physical. If it be either, then since each function is non-vital, ' the entire organism must be non-vital also. Hundreds of able investigators, provided with the most effective appliances of research, are now in full cry after the life principle. Naturally, a vast amount Of collateral knowledge is accumulated in the process. The quantitative as well as the qualitative relations of things are fixed and many important facts are collected.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.