Book contents
- Frontmatter
- A PREFATORY LETTER
- Contents
- LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS
- I ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE
- II EMANCIPATION—BLACK AND WHITE
- III A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT
- IV SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH
- V ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES
- VI ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY
- VII ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE
- VIII THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM
- IX ON A PIECE OF CHALK
- X GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE
- XI GEOLOGICAL REFORM
- XII THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
- XIII CRITICISMS ON “THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES”
- XIV ON DESCARTES' “DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S REASON RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH”
VII - ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- A PREFATORY LETTER
- Contents
- LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS
- I ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE
- II EMANCIPATION—BLACK AND WHITE
- III A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT
- IV SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH
- V ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES
- VI ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY
- VII ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE
- VIII THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM
- IX ON A PIECE OF CHALK
- X GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE
- XI GEOLOGICAL REFORM
- XII THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
- XIII CRITICISMS ON “THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES”
- XIV ON DESCARTES' “DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S REASON RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH”
Summary
In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I have translated the term “Protoplasm” which is the scientific name of the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words “the physical basis of life. ” I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel—so widely spread is the conception of life as a something which works through matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, “the physical basis or matter of life,” that there is some one kind of matter which is common to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common sense.
What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another in faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living beings? What community of faculty can there be between the brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with knowledge?
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- Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews , pp. 132 - 161Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1870