482 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 



constituents and tissues of plants." I interject here 

 the remark, that from a chemical point of view, pro- 

 toplasm is, under certain conditions, not unstable. 



If the tendency of the catagenetic energies is away 

 from vital phenomena, it is impossible that they, or 

 any of them, should be the cause of the origin of liv- 

 ing matter. This logical inference is confirmed by the 

 failure of all attempts to demonstrate spontaneous gen- 

 eration of living organisms from inorganic matter. 

 Further, the principle of continuity leads us to infer 

 that the energy which produced organic matter must 

 be identical with or allied to that which is the efficient 

 agent in progressive evolution of organisms, and is, 

 therefore, anagenetic. Such a conclusion may seem 

 to lead to a dualism which is itself opposed to the 

 principle of continuity or uniformity, and which is op- 

 posed to experience of the phenomena of energy in 

 general. How is uniformity to be harmonized with 

 the hypothesis of two types of energy acting in differ- 

 ent directions, apparently in opposition to each other? 

 Since facts and logic do not support the derivation of 

 the anagenetic from the inorganic energies, can the re- 

 verse process, the derivation of the catagenetic from 

 the anagenetic be and have been the order of nature? 

 In support of this hypothesis, we have the universal 

 prevalence of the retrograde metamorphosis of energy 

 in both the inorganic and organic kingdoms. Phe- 

 nomena of structural degeneracy are well known in 

 the organic world, and purely chemical phenomena in 

 both organic and inorganic processes are all degenerate. 

 It appears, then, much more probable that catagenesis 

 succeeds anagenesis as a consequence, and does not 

 precede it as a cause. In other words, it is more 



