THE lifp: of mattek. 401 



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Circuiustaiiccs t'jixoriihlc to the iippearaiice of the tii'st Ihmiio-s ii])pai'- 

 oiitly occurred on!}' in a far distant past. l)ut the o-roator nunihci' of 

 physiolooists admit that if wo knew exactly these circumstances and 

 could reproduce them, wo mio-ht also expect to produce their etfect, 

 wdiicli would l)e the creation of a livin<>- heinj^-, formed in jill its parts, 

 developed from the inorj^-anic kinj^-dom. For ail tiiose who think thus 

 the impotence of experimentation at the present time is purely pro- 

 viso r}-. It is compai'alde to that of })rimitive men, before the time 

 of Prometheus, who not kno\vin>i- how to produce tire, could only get 

 it ])y traiismittin*^- it from one to anotlier. It depends upon the insuf- 

 ficiency of our knowledti'c and the wcsiknes-^ of our means; it does not 

 esta))lish the inherent imj)ossil)ility of accomplishinu- the matter in 

 (juestion. 



C 'ont/'(irf/ (>j>u}l(>n — Life <ll(l not or/jj/'iuifc o/i our (jlolx'. — But all l)iolo- 

 ji'ists do not share this view. Some, and not the least amono- them, hold 

 it to be an establisluMl fact that it is impossibh^ for life to arise from a 

 concurrence of inoroanic materials and forces. This was the opinion 

 of the eminent l)otanist, Ferdinand C-ohn; of the Saxon physician, H. 

 Richter, and of W. Preyer, a physiologist well known from his noted 

 researches in biological chemistry. According to these scientists life 

 on the surface of the globe can not have })een occasioned l)y redactions 

 of brute matter and the forces that continue to dominate it. 



According to F. Cohn and H. Richter life has had no beginning 

 on our planet. It was transported to the earth from another world, 

 or fr(mi the cosmic environment, under the form of ccjsmic germs, or 

 cosmozoans. more or less comparable to the living cells with which we 

 are acquainted. They may have made the journey either included in 

 meteorites or floating in space in the form of cosmic dust. The doctrine 

 in ({uestion has been presented under two forms, thi^ hypothesis of 

 meteoric cosmozoans, due to a French writer, the C'ount de Salles- 

 Guyon, and that of cosmic i)ansi)ermia, advanced in 1S(!5 and 1872 by 

 F. Cohn and II. Richter. 



IIill><>th< fi'ix of tht (•oiiinozodii.'i. — The hypothesis of the cosmozoans, 

 li\ing particles, j)rot()plasmic germs emanating from other worlds and 

 reaching the earth ])y means of stones falling from the sky, is due to a 

 French w riter. Count de Salles-Guyon. It is not so destitute of proba- 

 bility as one might at first suppose. Lord Kelvin and Ilelmholtz gave 

 it the support of their high authority. Spectrum analysis shows in 

 cometary nebula' the four or live lin(>s characteristic of hydrocarl)ons. 

 (/osmic matter must then contain compoimds of carl)ou, of the sub- 

 stances that are especially typical of organic chemistry. P)esides, car- 

 bon and a sort of humus have been found in several meteorites. As 

 to the objection that these aerolites are heated while passing through 

 our atmosphere, Helmholtz responds that this elevation of temperature 



SM 1902—26 ■ 



