Life theories, their influence upon religious thought / by Lionel S. Beale.

  • Beale, Lionel S. (Lionel Smith), 1828-1906.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Life theories, their influence upon religious thought / by Lionel S. Beale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    PREFACE. In this work I have adduced some of the reasons which have led me to think that the physical doctrine of life is opposed to the development of religious thought and natural theology, and adverse to scien- tific progress. It has not been shown that any one of the physical or chemical hypotheses of life yet proposed rests upon the secure foundation of observation and experiment, while on the other hand the phenomena of living- beings, open to the observation of all, not only justif}- the acceptance of a vital theory, but are only in this way to be accounted for. Although it has been repeatedly affirmed that the non-living passes by insensible gradations into the living, no example of matter in the supposed transi- tional condition has yet been obtained, while, on the other hand, the facts which lead me to conclude that the difference between the living and the non-living is absolute, have neither been controverted nor explained away. My conclusions are indeed at variance with the views very generally entertained and taught in