PREFACE. 



HAVING been compelled by the results of my 

 investigations on the question of the Origin of 

 Life to arrive at conclusions adverse to generally 

 received opinions, I found that several persons 

 having high authority in matters of science, were 

 little disposed to assent to these views. To a 

 great extent this seemed due to the fact that 

 a distinguished chemist had previously gone over 

 some of the same ground, and had arrived at 

 precisely opposite conclusions. M. Pasteur has been 

 long known as an able and brilliant experimenter, 

 and some of his admirers seem to regard him 

 as an almost equally faultless reasoner. 



Renewed and prolonged experimentation having 

 tended to demonstrate the truth of my original 

 conclusions, and to convince me of the utter 

 untenability of M. Pasteur's views, it seemed 

 that the best course to pursue would be, at first, 

 to endeavour to show into what errors of reasoning 



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