NINETEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 47 



carbon compounds, co^ or ch^ should be eternal in the 

 sense that they exist at all times and more or less in all places, 

 and not rather that they are continually produced anew and 

 pass out of existence again — in fact out of the elements and into 

 the elements — has hitherto not been asserted. If living protein is 

 eternal in the same sense as other carbon compounds, then it must 

 not only continually be dissolved into its elements, as is well 

 known to happen, but it must also continually be produced 

 anew from the elements and without the collaboration of pre- 

 viously existing protein — and that is the exact opposite of the 

 result at which Liebig arrives (II. 7, p. 394). 



The proposition that living beings invariably arise when 

 certain conditions are fulfilled has nothing in common with 

 the concept of the ' eternity of life '. On the contrary, it 

 leads to the idea that organisms invariably originate from 

 inanimate matter. 



Against this, those ^vho favour the eternity of life consider 

 that at all times there has existed some element w^hich has 

 been passed in succession from organism to organism. With- 

 out this the occurrence of living beings is impossible. " Life," 

 wrote F. J. Cohn (1828-1898), " is like the holy fire of Vesta, 

 ^vhich was only kept in being continuously by kindling the 

 new flame from the old." But what is this special principle 

 that is present only in the living organism, and what is 

 its nature? It cannot be an eternal property of matter, as 

 the ancient Greeks supposed, because then the vivification 

 of matter would not require the participation of a living 

 organism already in existence, but life would arise spon- 

 taneously of itself. It cannot be a new quality arising in 

 the course of the historical development of matter, because 

 then it Avould not be eternal. Consequently, this principle 

 cannot be material in nature. And so, as soon as we try 

 to extend or develop the principle of the eternity of life, 

 whether we want it or not, ^ve find ^\■e have been trapped 

 into idealistic assumptions. It cannot be said that attempts to 

 resolve this contradiction on the basis of a so-called ' material- 

 istic dualism ' have been successful. This recognises the 

 parallel and independent existence of tw^o completely autono- 

 mous forms of matter, radicallv distinct from one another 

 and separated by an impassable gulf. 



