CHAPTER 22 • OPINIONS ON THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE 



1 If all life comes from life, where did the first come from? 



2 Was there only one form of life at the beginnmg, or were there 



many different species? 



3 Did life start in all parts of the world or in one region and then 



migrate to other places? 



4 If life could start by itself at one time, why can it not start at 



another time, or in various places? 



5 If life had a beginning, then is it not likely to come to an end? 



6 If life originated from nonliving matter, would it not be possible 



to create life artificially? 



7 Has life originated on other planets or in other parts of the uni- 



verse? 



8 Are there any things that stand between Hving and not-living? 



9 Could life have come to the earth from some other planet? 



Every primitive people has its own explanation of the source of life and of 

 the nature of life. The god on the sun brought life down to the earth. The 

 daughter of the ocean came up with life. A great bird came from over the 

 sea, with the eggs and seeds of all the different species. It was the sunlight 

 acting on the mud. It was an invisible spirit, "a breath", that entered the 

 clay and made it live. 



The notion of "breathing life" into lifeless matter is very old. Man's 

 early conflicts with other living things— larger animals, lions or bears — im- 

 pressed him with the greater amount of "life" which they had. Heavy 

 breathing is the very sign of a powerful and dangerous enemy. The last 

 breath of a dying person is often a heavy expiration. And when the breath 

 goes, life ends. 



The creation myths of primitive peoples were all very much alike, except 

 for the names of the gods and the symbols employed. How do they differ 

 from our modern answers? In what way are modern answers better? How, 

 indeed, can we know what happened so far in the past? 



How Can We Know about Life In the Past? 



Before We Were Born^ What happened before our time or outside our 

 experience we have to learn from others, usually. If we trust those who tell 

 us, we believe. If strangers or people we dislike tell us, we generally do not 

 believe. As we grow older, however, we may find that our authorities often 

 know only what others told them. Or that, like ourselves and other human 



^See No. 1, p. 449 

 437 



