The view then that organisms are nothing but the form under which substances capable of imbibition crystallize, appears to be compatible with the most important phenomena of organic life, and may be so far admitted, that it is a possible hypothesis; or attempt towards an explanation of these phenomena. It involves very much that is uncertain and paradoxical, but I have developed it in detail, because it may serve as a guide for new investigations. For even if no relation between crystallization and the growth of organisms be admitted in principle, this view has the advantage of affording a distinct representation of the organic processes; an indispensable requisite for the institution of new inquiries in a systematic manner, or for testing by the discovery of new facts a mode of explanation which harmonizes with phenomena already known. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 33: Translated from _Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Wachstum der Tiere und der Pflanzen_ (Berlin, 1839) by Henry Smith in the _Publications of the Sydenham Society_ (1847).] XXXI HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 1821-1894 _Hermann von Helmholtz, born at Potsdam, Prussia, August 31, 1821, studied medicine at the University of Berlin, from which he received his degree in 1842. He then entered the German Army as surgeon and in 1847 published his paper on “The Conservation of Energy,” which summarized historically the development of the idea. In 1849 he was appointed professor of physiology and general pathology at Königsberg. In 1855 he was called to Bonn, and in 1858 was elected to the chair of physiology at Heidelberg._ _In 1851 he invented the ophthalmoscope and later at Heidelberg he continued his researches in the subject of sight, and also cleared up the problem of the mechanical causes of sound. In 1871 he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Berlin, where he remained until his death, September 8, 1894._ THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY[34] A new conquest of very general interest has been recently made by natural philosophy. In the following pages I will endeavour to give a notion of the nature of this conquest. It has reference to a new and universal natural law, which rules the action of natural forces in their mutual relations towards each other, and is as influential on our theoretic views of natural processes as it is important in their technical applications.