LIFE AND FORCE ARE NOT THE SAME.

Hylozoism is the doctrine that life and matter are inseparable. This doctrine has been presented in several different forms. Straton, of Lampsacus, claimed that molecules were each and all of them in possession of life. The Stoics did not, however, accord life to each and every distinct particle of matter, but held that the universe, as a whole, was a being animated by a principle which gave to it motion, form and life. This principle they called the soul of the universe. This idea was advocated by the followers of Plotinus, who contended that this soul of the world animated the smallest particle of matter. Spinoza asserted that all things were alive in different degrees. Matter, according to Leibnitz and Boscovish, and others, is always endowed with force. Attraction and repulsion and chemical affinity, all indicate activity in matter; but all this fails to meet the demands of science, for this simple reason, life is a force always connected with organization, which much of matter wants. Spontaneous motion, growth, nutrition, separation of parts, and generation are phenomena which indicate the presence of life; which most certainly is not co-extensive with matter. So Hylozoism, ancient and modern, under whatever name you please to term it, breaks down. Here, also, we discover that it is foolishness to confound the terms life and force.