DR. WALLIS' LECTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6421, 16 June 1882, Page 5

DR. WALLIS' LECTURE.

De. Wallis delivered the fourth of his course of lectures yesterday evening at the Athenseum, the subject being " Life and Evolution." The lecture was highly instructive, and very ably dealt with by the Doctor, who io thoroughly conversant with the subject. At the outset he described . the origin of life, and referred to the building up of life in the animal kingdom. He went on to explain what part the properties of the atmosphere took in the building up of life both in the vegetable and animal kingdom, and also described very explicitly the process of digestion, specifying the properties of the food necessary for maintaining life in the body. They were maintained as —Ist Saccharine, and 2nd Oleaginous, which were calculated to produce heat in the body ; 3rd, the .Albuminous element which produced flesh and, fourthly, mineral elements without which life could not continue to exist. He showed how blood was e i r . culated, and how the substances above mentioned gradually became flesh and blood. He said that a great deal of discussion had recently taken place regarding this question, " What is life ?" Many theories had been put iorth. Some said that it was organisation and action, and various other equally reasonable opinions had bsen expressed, but his opinion was so far a3 he could understand, it was nothing more -nor less than transformed sunshine; the combination of two inseparable elements, the one of which he would call organisation, the other environment, and this he considered the best definition that could be given of life, viewing it in the philosophical light of modern times. The doctor next referred briefly to the theory of evolution, pointing out that, according to the complex lite which exists on the ■ planet at the present time, it must have originated from the laws of nature having provided for the extinction of the weaker kinds of j species.' He said that it was a well-known fact that the stronger animal, either mentally or physically, had succeeded in- extinguishing the weaker, and thus the world was prevented from being overrun with animal life. Geologists had shown that life had become irore - and more complex since the time it first existed on the earth from the fossiliferous strata. The doctor said that so far as Darwin's theory was concerned, there was • a remote probability of its being veritable, but if man had really descended from a squid, it was just possible that what he would call the "coming race" would be as superior to the present human being as he was superior to the gorilla. And the probability was, that we would stand in the same relation to this " coming race" as the cattle at present do to us. The lecturer throughout kept his audience interested in the subject, and frequently his opinions inet with applause. The fifth lecture will take place next • Friday evening, in - place of Thursday, on account of the concert which is to be held on that evening in the Roman Catholic Church. The subject of the lecture will be on the " Antiquity of Man." .