The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1858-12-23
For the Gate CITY,



platitudes are palmsd OF upon the public un-
der the name OF "popular lectures" it 10 On
occasion of no small moment where lectu
rer gives to his audience something OF rea
intellectual food. Lectures are pre- eminent
~ the fashion Of our times, and like mos
fashionable things are no, unfrequently over
done, md by far too often come far short
save in form only, Of fulfilling the object fol-
which they were intended, namely instruc
ton Of the people. No such objection car
be brought to the effort Of Prof Hudson OF
Saturday night last. On the contrary, it Il
a matter OF regret that q multitude, beside,
those present, should not have also heard
and been instructed by the same. Their,
10 no one Of the Doctors hearers, an
sure, but would agree with me in the state
ment that it isseIdom here, or elsewhere, thai
a lecture contains so much OF interest, or thai
lecturer is so successful in attracting and
retaining the attention of his auditory.
In manner, Prof. Hudson cannot be said
to be pattern orator, but still there 10 an
earnestness and mr. Of conviction Of the truths
be enunciates which is exceedingly impress
sive, and which blinds the listener TO any of
the minor oratorical faults of the speaker.
His style of writing is terse, forcible and
eminently laeonic 10 the main, but by no
means destitute OF rhetorical finish, and, at
times, when loosing himself from the shackles
OF closely logical and scientific accuracy be
permits rich fancy and ardent imagination
their play,,his style lie full, rich, and not lit
tie ornate.
But propose to offer you for publication
brief abstract Of the lecture, with the hope
that you and your readers may fnd in it, as
have, matter of more than ordinary inter-
Get.
The theme of the lecture was "The Type
Of Life," and was treated MS follows:
Life 10 peculiar to forms Of matter. Such
forms are constructed from compound-nev
er from elementary matter. Vitality, while
it exists only in connection with such forms,
cannot be said to emanate from them per Sc,
but il the result of the action upon them Of
forces external to them, such forces being
light, heat, electricity, &C., commonly termed
vital forces. Vital existences are all refer
red by naturalists to certain types, thus in
the animate world all creatures are said to be
of four types--the "radiata,"
'.mollusca," .sarticulata" and "vertebrata."
OF the animal world, mobility is stated to be
The general distinguishing characteristic,
while immobility is that of vegetable life as
with animate beings, but this lat
ter obtains as we'll in the inorganic kingdom
Of nature.
But, asks the Professor, is there not some
type, broader than these, which shall include
in far reaching identity both animate and
inanimate Is there not symbol whose
mammoth scope, medding not with races,
orders and kingdoms, overspreads and takes in
every living object-atype Of life? And he re-
plies, We think there is such alsymbol-
is figure many times inscribed, vet never
hitherto made TO utter the colossal idea Of
Lifel
And what is the form Of this symbol
what the shape Of this fgure2 Itisasphere,
cell, spheroidal eorpusclc. Exhibiting
diagrams, the lecturer demonstrated his idea.
This type, this idea, runs through every
link Of natures living chain-wherever life
is, this form is always present and always
demonstrable, and wherever found, life 10
signifed.
Exhibiting diagrams, the Doctor showed
that this spheroidal cell obtains in the class
alque, the lowest forms of vegetable existen-
ces also, in the higher orders OF this king
dom that the same ID true Of the lowest,
highest, and indeed all orders Of the animate
kingdom. II is, be remarked, the age endu-
ring model from which are moulded and cast
the ever. changing patterns Of vitality.
This may be, and indeed is, in the animal
and vegetable kingdoms, in several instances,
all there is Of form to unquestioned vitalzed
beings, and as VIC rise in the scale, living
forms are all but notifications and made up
by multiplications Of it. In the passage up
ward, from the simplest to the most complex,
each step is but the scaffolding from which
the next is built.
Growth is but multiplication of these cells,
which, living, are endowed with the power OF
self-mulsiplication or re production. These
cells, from different orders Of beings, do not
follow the same bu, have diverse laws Of re-
production. This does not, however, argue
anything against the typical character which
is ascribed to the form.
The Professor spoke a. some lcngi respect
ing the nature and Office Of these cells, dem
onstratlng that they were essential TO all life
that IN disease, as IN the formation of pus,
and in heteroIegaus growths, as in cancer,
tue earpuscular form prevails equally, as in
healthiul processes. But these latter cells
differ, 50 fur as our knowledge goes, from
others IN being Observation-Disclosures Of pa
rental predecessors. Nor are they like ordi-
nary normal cells, peaceful neighbors, but
feed upon those about them, making rava-
ging inroads, and playing the partof robbers
upon the rightfal and peaceable normal cells,
and so become destructive Of life.
Changes OF conditions modify the develop.