440 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vor. VIII. 
processes so that they should not have altered in all the subsequent 
geological eras must have required an inconceivably long period of time. 
Still very much farther back must have been the date when life 
originated as ultramicroscopic organisms, for out of such eventually 
developed the cell. 
The biologist, and more particularly the cytologist, reviewing these 
matters, is inclined to regard the length of time during which stratified 
rocks, including those of the Huronian Age, were laid down as buta 
small fraction of that which has passed since the origin of life on the 
earth. The geologist may perhaps not share this view, but the facts 
which the cytologist has ascertained are of such a character as to com- 
pel him to recognize that a period of enormous length must have inter- 
vened between the time when life first began on the globe and the time 
when the differentiation of the primal cell into animal and vegetable 
types commenced. 
In closing it may be pointed out what the explanation here 
advanced concerning the origin of life on this globe involves. It follows, 
almost inevitably, that as every planet in every stellar system has passed 
or is passing through the same history as the earth has known, the same 
physical conditions have given or are now giving the same result or will 
ultimately do so and of course life cannot then be considered as confined 
to the earth only. How vast the universe may be we do not know and 
whether there is any limit to it we cannot say. Kapteyn* of Gréningen 
has from his studies on star drift advanced the view that there are two 
visible universes travelling in opposite directions in space. His obser- 
vations and views have received the support of astronomers generally. 
It is conceivable that far beyond the penetration of the most 
efficient telescope, that is, beyond what Lucretius calls fammantia 
menia mundi, “the flaming ramparts of the world,” there are other 
universes, perhaps countless in number, each with its history repeating 
that of our own. We do not, however, require to postulate that the 
depth of space is strewn with universes in order to realize the magnitude 
of the destiny of life. It is estimated that there are at least 300,000 suns 
visible in space and each of these probably has its own planetary system. 
On 2,000,000 planets then the story of the origin of life on earth, herein 
outlined, has been, is now being, or is to be, repeated and thus there is 
an eternal procession of life throughout the universe. There is another 
thought that results from this explanation of the origin of life and from 
* “Star Streaming,” British Association Report, 1905, p. 2§7- 
