PART FIRST. 



THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



CHAPTER I. 



THE OLD AND THE NEW DEVELOPMENT THEORY. CHEMICAL AFFINITY AND THE 

 PRINCIPLE OF LIFE, OR THE ORGANIC AND INORGANIC FORCES. THE LOWEST 

 ORGANIC BEINGS. SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 



No doubt most of you have heard of what is called the 

 " Development Theory," and have been led, in the course of 

 your various readings, to believe that its doctrines have such 

 a tendency as might induce one finally to exclude from the 

 mind every idea of the interposing hand of the Creator, in the 

 origination, development, and growth of living creatures. 



It is true that this is one of the various forms of the develop- 

 ment theory ; and the one which, more than any other, is promi- 

 nent in the minds of men at large throughout the world. 



It is that form of the development theory which teaches that 

 all things originated through physical forces, which operate 

 according to what are called physical laws ; the laws of elec- 

 tricity, magnetism, chemical affinity, &c. ; laws which have 

 been said to administer themselves. 



There was a time when this idea may be said to have raged 

 among the philosophic portions of the community ; but although 

 the heat of the fever has abated at this time, still there is a cer- 

 tain tendency to relapse, if not into the old stage, at least into 

 another no less dangerous form of it, which is this. 



Admitting, say the advocates of this theory, that in the 

 beginning' the Creator made all things living by a direct act of 

 his own hand, yet after that, in order that the universe might 







