222 life's beginning on the earth 



seems to have only theoretical bearing at first sight. The 

 more we learn about the working of the forces of nature in 

 the living world, the better weapons can we acquire against 

 disease, and the more perfectly can we keep our own exist- 

 ence in a balanced condition. Our thirst for knowledge 

 shows us the road to the pursuit of human happiness as 

 visualized by the old alchemists: it gives us power, through 

 the control over the forces of nature, and good health by the 

 gradual elimination of disease, so that we may hope to enjoy 

 a long life which is as near to immortality as we can possibly 

 expect. 



We have come to the end of our explorations. We feel 

 that we have reached a high peak from which we may view- 

 events present and past, even those of a much more dis- 

 tant past than has hitherto been visible. 



The new truth we have learned deserves the continued 

 effort of the best minds and hands for its further develop- 

 ment. We have begun to see that life is not a sort of mirac- 

 ulous separate entity, imposed on our earth by a spirit or 

 an invisible something. We have chosen to follow the line 

 of objective observation, rather than the fictions originating 

 in the human mind. 



Life is one of the developments of the Universe, governed 

 by the general laws of nature. It seems unique merely 

 because of our limitations in knowledge. On account of 

 this handicap, we still find difficulties in the application of 

 natural laws to the many phenomena of life. But does it 

 not seem like a jest to say that the living animals and plants 

 should be unable to initiate and to regulate their existence 

 according to these laws, merely because of our inability to 

 comprehend all of them? 



Dixi et animam salvavi. 



