32 THE BEGINNINGS OF II FE. 



exposed to various physical agencies, which play upon 

 them in the world without, and how probable does it 

 become that living things are continually arising de 

 novo^ on account of the ^ spontaneous ' occurrence of 

 such combinations wherever organic matter exists in 

 solution. It is only by denying such possibilities — 

 now almost converted into certainties — that biologists 

 can reject the notion of living matter being formed 

 by virtue of chemical combinations which are naturally 

 prone to occur when heat and other physical forces 

 act upon suitable materials — ^just as chlorine is prone 

 to unite with hydrogen under the influence of light, 

 or just as cyanimide has a natural tendency to unite 

 with glycocol, when both coexist in aqueous solution, 

 so as to form g]ycocyamine. 



But few can bring themselves to look at the facts in 

 an unbiassed manner. Refuge is unconsciously taken 

 in the last stronghold of vitalism : powerfully influenced 

 by an analogical argument in support of their belief in 

 the continuity of life, certain biologists in the present 

 day would endow pre-existing protoplasm with marvel- 

 lous and unique powers, at the same time that they 

 deny the existence of any special vital force. They 

 have not yet fairly cast off the old vitalistic theories 

 which they profess to repudiate. They shut their eyes 

 against, or will not be convinced by, all the evidence 

 which speaks loudly for the ^ spontaneous ' occurrence 

 of the changes which give birth to living matter, and 

 consequently they still proclaim a belief in their 



