PERHAPS no subject arouses greater interest than does that of the future life, as it is called. People who do not concern themselves about religion are ready to admit their interest in a possible future existence. In spite of this fact, however, the tendency of physical science seems to be in the opposite direction. Not only does it offer no hope of continued life after the dissolution of the material body, it even denies the possibility. A well-known teacher of chemistry in a medical college, whose recently expressed views we venture to quote, defines the position held by the majority of physicists when he says,—
"This is the lesson we have learned: That the phenomena to which we give the name of soul are inextricably connected with the physiological functions of the brain, and that they had their origin in the far-off inorganic world, and were inherent, actually or potentially, in inorganic matter.
"Thus, as we read the record, has begun and proceeded through untold ages the majestic march, which, starting from the dust of the earth, at length presents the vertebrate, the mammal, the ape, the body, and the soul of man.
