EVOLUTION OF LIFE ON THE EARTH 



The search for the causes and conditions which are the 

 basis of life has in all ages and climes aroused an all-ab- 

 sorbing interest. Up to this time, however, the problem 

 has not yielded to solution, since countless attempts made to 

 solve it have ended in apparent failure. 



It is hardly surprising therefore that many, even ardent 

 students of this perplexing problem, have been driven to the 

 conclusion that the forces producing life are wholly different 

 from anything occurring in inanimate nature. They feel 

 it hopeless to try to understand the nature of life processes 

 or even to expect that we can reproduce artificially anything 

 remotely similar to living creatures. 



Such a pessimistic statement is undoubtedly the cry of 

 despair. It is true that science in its present state of devel- 

 opment is not equal to the task of solving these problems. 

 But it should be remembered that the present stage of 

 science is certainly not its final one. Some of the forces 

 which act in living organisms have recently been explained 

 and artificially imitated, although they had been previously 

 shrouded in the deepest mystery. We may indulge in the 

 hope that those problems of life which are still so puzzling 

 may be solved at a future time. 



Tradition often handicaps us when we approach such 

 fundamental problems as the origin of life. But perfect 

 freedom of thought must be the basis of science. If we can 

 free our minds from all prejudices, we find no evidence in 

 nature of anything like a purpose or an aim in creating life. 

 We may therefore state that the appearance of life on the 

 earth is nothing more than a cosmic event. In other words : 

 just as mountains, rivers and oceans are formed by the play 

 of the forces of nature, so also arise living structures on the 

 surface of the earth. 



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