CHAPTER X 



THE FORMS ASSUMED BY NEW-BORN UNITS OF 



LIVING MATTER 



THE units of living matter that form in a col- 

 loidal solution, whether of organic or of mineral 

 origin, must necessarily have their starting-point 

 altogether beyond the range of ordinary aided 

 vision. It is scarcely conceivable for an evolution- 

 ist to suppose that living matter could ever take 

 origin, either now or in the past, in any other 

 way. So that the birth of ultra-microscopic parti- 

 cles, gradually coming into the region of the visible, 

 may easily be understood to be a process lying 

 altogether outside the range of man's experience; 

 and therefore the establishment of the existence 

 of such a process cannot, as of old, be truthfully 

 said to " contradict the experience of all mankind." 

 Nor can the fact that the organisms found in 

 the experimental vessels are common well-known 

 forms, such as Bacteria and Torula?, be with any 

 logical force advanced against the doctrine of 



100 



