NEW THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH. 43 



cold (tiips lie protected himself with the skins of wild beasts. 

 Whole races — countless millions of hnmaii beings — have inhabit- 

 ed the earth — laughed and loved — feasted and starved — warred 

 and worshipped after their own ways and according to their own 

 lights, and then perished. Some were pigmies and some weie 

 giants. Some were black and some white, some intellectual and 

 some l)estial. Remains of theii' ruined dwellings, relics of their 

 rude weapons and household utensils, have been found deep 

 under the surface of the ground, showing how earth has grown, by 

 the accumulation of planetary dust, since they were left on its 

 surface by a dying race of human beings. 



Are the races that now inhabit tlie earth to ])erish, like their 

 predecessors, and l»e succeeded by other races? Is the human 

 race itself to vanish and leave the eartii to a higher and more 

 intelligent type? 



The great mystery, the origin of life itself, is unknown and un- 

 ktiowable. Men have yirofessed to know, many men think they 

 know, but their jirofesscvd profundity of knowledge is only an 

 eloquent proof of their wealth of imagination. It is a growing 

 oi)inion among investigators of natural jihenomena, an opinion 

 that, in spite of the mighty influences to the contrary, is becoming 

 H conviction, — a conviction that is strengthened by the fact, 

 already explained before this Association by Dr. Cox, that there is 

 a time in the embryotic life of animals when different species are 

 as one, a stage of develo(iment when even serpents and birds are 

 alike, and when it is uncertain whether they will grow up as ))irds 

 and wing their way throtigh the ])tn'e air, or into snakes and 

 crawl u})on the slimy earth — it is a growing or)inion that life and 

 matter are co-existent and eternal; that all the different forms of 

 life are but different combinations and developments of one life 

 germ or essence; that, instead of different s]iecies having been 

 created or planted where conditions were suital)le for them, and 

 with organs and ca]iacities suited to the environment, they have 

 arisen from, or been produced by, their envii(mment. 



Life is the one great mystery, an all-})ervading niystery. IJfe is 



