180 WHAT 18 LIFE 



The general view embraces the concepts (a) of the 

 repeated origins of Hfe on the earth; (6) of the simul- 

 taneous plural origin of forms; (c) of the necessity 

 for the occurrence of pathological growths, given 

 certain specific conditions following injury to various 

 living cells; {d) of laboratory abiogenesis. 



Someone may object: If life originates, as the 

 theory asserts, whenever and wherever certain simple 

 conditions are present, why are not new life-forms 

 discovered today? The answer is: (1) Life has 

 flourished for millions of years wherever it is possible 

 for it to flourish. (2) There is nothing to show 

 whether a speck of protoplasm is a newly arisen life 

 or one that comes through an unbroken line of 

 descent from a form that originated in the remote 

 past. (3) Cancer and other neoplasms indeed are 

 of all too frequent occurrence. 



XIX. A working theory to guide research on 

 experimental abiogenesis. 



The question of experimental abiogenesis has been 

 a delicate subject, because there has been no theory 

 to guide the research. One recalls that Jacques Loeb 

 said that no definite plan could be formed for the 

 solution of the problem of transforming non-living 

 matter into living matter, since nobody thus far had 

 observed the transformation. (See p. 6Q.) Because 

 of the utter lack of a theory of how non-living matter 



