356 LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEYfS. [xr. 



tlie water is poured. The form of the organism is thus 

 determined by the reaction "between external condi- 

 tions and the inherent activities of the organic mole- 

 cules of which it is composed ; and, as the stoppage of 

 a whirlpool destroys nothing but a form, and leaves 

 the molecules of the water, with all their inherent 

 activities intact, so what we call the death and putre- 

 faction of an animal, or of a plant, is merely the break- 

 ing up of the form, or manner of association, of its 

 constituent organic molecules, which are then set free 

 as infusorial animalcules. 



It will be perceived that this doctrine is by no means 

 identical with Abiogenesis, with which it is often con- 

 founded. On this hypothesis, a piece of beef, or a 

 handful of hay, is dead only in a limited sense. The 

 beef is dead ox, and the hay is dead grass ; but the 

 " organic molecules " of the beef or the hay are not 

 dead, but are ready to manifest their vitality as soon 

 as the bovine or herbaceous shrouds in which they are 

 imprisoned are rent by the macerating action of water. 

 The hypothesis therefore must be classified under Xen- 

 ogenesis, rather than under Abiogenesis. Such as it 

 was, I think it will appear, to those who will be just 

 enough to remember that it was propounded before 

 the birth of modern chemistry, and of the modern 

 optical arts, to be a most ingenious and suggestive 

 speculation. 



But the great tragedy of Science — the slaying of a 

 beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact — which is so con- 

 stantly being enacted under the eyes of philosophers, 

 was played, almost immediately, for the benefit of 

 Buffon and Needham. 



Once more, an Italian, the Abbe Spallanzani, a 

 worthy successor and representative of Hecli in his 

 acuteness, his ingenuity, and his learning, subjected 



