260 THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 



The intimate structure of organic beings, as well as 

 their order of development on the earth, point to the 

 conclusion that they are all derived from a common 

 ancestor, and that living protoplasm was formed 

 once, and once only, on the surface of the sea. Now, 

 in the origin of living substance on this planet, we 

 have a case which is generally recognised as a break 

 in continuity. It is generally allowed that it was an 

 action which is not only incomprehensible by us, but 

 one which conflicts with our knowledge of natural 

 laws. Professor T. H. Morgan says, " We can, 

 however, state with some assurance that at present 

 we cannot see how any known principle of chemistry 

 or physics can explain the development of a definite 

 form by the organism or by a piece of the organism. 

 Indeed we may even go further, and claim that it 

 appears to be a phenomenon entirely beyond the 

 scope of legitimate explanation, just as are many 

 physical and chemical phenomena themselves, even 

 those of the simpler sort. To call this a vitalistic 

 principle is, I think, misleading. We can do 

 nothing more than claim to have discovered some- 

 thing that is present in living things, which 

 we cannot explain , nay perhaps cannot even hope to 

 explain, by known physical laws." 63 That an un- 

 stable chemical compound, endowed with the power 

 of directing energy independently of any outside 

 agent, should have been brought into existence by the 

 action of known physical laws in an impossibility. 

 The processes of assimilation and fission, on which all 

 progress depends, are quite distinct from anything 

 63 " Regeneration," 1901, p. 255. 



