304 LIFE AND DEATH. 



throws remarkable light on the subject of the living 

 body, and on one of the most serious problems 

 relative to its origin, that of spontaneous generation. 



Conclusion. — These facts lead to one conclusion. 

 Until the concourse of propitious circumstances 

 favourable to their spontaneous generation was 

 brought about, crystals were obtained only by 

 filiation. Until the discovery of electro-magnetism, 

 magnets were made only by filiation, by means of 

 the simple or double application of a pre-existing 

 magnet. Before the discovery which fable attributes 

 to Prometheus, every new fire was produced only by 

 means of a spark from a pre-existing fire. We are 

 at the same historical stage as regards the living 

 world, and that is why, up to the present, there has 

 never been formed a single particle of living matter 

 except by filiation, except by the intervention of a 

 pre-existing living organism. 



