XI 



SOME GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 



T T may very properly be said that many elements 

 ^ of uncertainty accompany the questions dis- 

 cussed in the previous chapters, and that in any 

 case our information is too scanty to warrant any 

 positive conclusions respecting the origin and 

 earliest history of living beings. On the other 

 hand, it is well to take stock of what we do know, 

 and even of what we may reasonably suppose ; 

 keeping alwa\'s in view the fact that some parts 

 of the problem of the origin of life are at present 

 insoluble, and may possibly ever continue in that 

 condition. I may, therefore, profitably close with 

 a summary of what at present seem to be ultimate 

 facts and principles in this matter, which, if we 

 have not yet fully attained to, we may at least 

 keep in view as objective points. 



If we admit that Eozoon was an animal, we may 

 either assume that it was the first introduced on 

 the earth, or that there were earlier and possibly 

 even simpler creatures. In either case we begin 



