186 THE CASE AGAINST EVOLUTION 



to admit it. It is in this frame of mind that August Weis- 

 mann is induced to confide to us ''that spontaneous generation, 

 in spite of all the vain attempts to demonstrate it, remains for 

 me a logical necessity." ("Essays," p. 34, Poulton's Transl.) 

 The presupposition latent in all such logic is, of course, the 

 assumption that nothing but matter exists ; for, if the possibil- 

 ity of the existence of a supermaterial agency is conceded, then 

 obviously we are not compelled by logical necessity to ascribe 

 the initial production of organic life to the exclusive agency 

 of the physicochemical energies inherent in inorganic matter. 

 Weismann should demonstrate his suppressed premise that 

 matter coincides with reality and that spiritual is a synonym 

 for nonexistent. Until such time as tliis unverified and un- 

 verifiable affirmation is substantiated, the philosophical proof 

 for abiogenesis is not an argument at all, it is dogmatism pure 

 and simple. 



But, they protest, "To deny spontaneous generation is to 

 proclaim a miracle" (Nageli), and natural science cannot 

 have recourse to "miracles" in explaining natural phenomena. 

 For the "scientist," miracles are always absurd as contra- 

 dicting the uniformity of nature, and to recur to them 

 for the solution of a scientific problem is, to put it mildly, 

 distinctly out of the question. Hence Haeckel regards spon- 

 taneous generation as more than demonstrated by the bare 

 consideration that no alternative remains except the unspeak- 

 able scientific blasphemy implied in superstitious terms like 

 "miracle," "creation," and "supernatural." For a "thinking 

 man," the mere mention of these abhorrent words is, or ought 

 to be, argument enough. "If we do not accept the hypothesis 

 of spontaneous generation," Haeckel expostulates, "we must 

 have recourse to the miracle of a supernatural creation." 

 (Italics his — "History of Creation," I, p. 348, Lankester's 

 Transl.) It would be a difficult matter, indeed, to cram more 

 blunders into one short sentence! We will not, and need not, 

 undertake to defend the supernatural here. Suffice it to say, 

 that the initiation of life in inorganic matter by the Author 



