ECTOPLASM AND EVOLUTION 



innumerable, as is attested by the many and various theories 

 of evolution. Those biologists who, after having weighed 

 the evidence, accept the theory that animals and plants 

 exist as products of evolution and reject the theory of a 

 special creation for every living being that ever was and now 

 is, by no means agree concerning the cause of evolution. 



To take up our first question: How did the first living 

 thing arise.'' To put it otherwise: How out of non-living 

 matter did life arise .^ 



The combination of chemical compounds from the envi- 

 ronment to make up the first living thing must obviously 

 have meant a separation from the environment, that is, 

 the combination must have been peculiar, both physically 

 and chemically; otherwise, there never could have come 

 about its separation and the maintenance of its integrity 

 apart from the environment. Now the moment that this 

 peculiar combination of compounds arose, there must have 

 begun reactions or responses of it to the environment — 

 especially to temperature, to gases and to electrolytes. 

 The chief characteristic of this original substance was its 

 peculiar and complex organization, which set it apart 

 from its environment; but at the same time it must have 

 been responsive to environmental changes. Environmen- 

 tal changes must in the first instance have brought about 

 the combination of compounds peculiar to living substance, 

 and in the second place must have conditioned its activity. 



This original mass of primitive protoplasm at first per- 

 haps showed no high degree of differentiation, but we can 

 scarcely imagine it as a homogeneous structure through- 

 out; as such it could not have endured for any great length 

 of time. The moment that we assume that a combination 

 of chemical compounds was separated out from the envir- 

 onment as a peculiar system, we must postulate some dif- 

 ferentiation in the mass — which differentiation served to 

 keep the combination of compounds intact. 



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