114 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



And whilst new-born crystalline matter is capable of 

 developing at once into complex but perfect geo- 



FiG. 44. 



Different Forms assumed by Crystals of Ammoniaco-magnesian 

 Phosphate. (Dr. Beale.) 



metrical forms, or of assuming many varied and beauti- 

 ful shapes which are common in the vegetable world, 



fashion since the first advent of Life upon our globe — that those at 

 present in existence are the direct lineal descendants of certain archaic 

 forms, as seems to be tacitly intimated— there might be more difficulty 

 in explaining the coincidence. But, perhaps it would have been better 

 if this critic had realized the fact that, in the event of living matter 

 having really arisen independently in the experimental flasks, it would 

 entail the necessity of diminishing almost to zero the accredited 

 pedigree of these low kinds of Fungi. Had this been thought out a 

 little more fully, such an eminent biologist would perhaps have hesi- 

 tated before he made the following sensational declaration to a large 

 audience : — ' If it is true that Torula forms, Bacteria forms, and such 

 things which are common products of so-called spontaneous generation 

 — if these can be shown to be terms in the development of a known 

 form — the probability of the same identical form turning up sponta- 

 neously becomes by mathematical considerations infinitely minute; and 

 for my part, I could as soon believe that the calf I see grazing in a meadow 

 had been spontaneously generated from the grass and powers there.' (' Quart, 

 Jrnl. of Microsc. Sc.,' Oct. 1870, p. 361.) 



