THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 73 



might not another be independently developed on 

 moist earth or in the water, and why is it necessary 

 to affirm without proof that they have varied from 

 one original ? 



It is equally impossible to show that these plants 

 have at any time ascended to higher grades. They 

 remain as they were, humble one-celled plants, and 

 may have so continued since the dawn of life on our 

 planet. Even on Krakatao no one supposes that the 

 algoid plants which first took possession changed into 

 higher forms. They only formed a basis on which the 

 spores and seeds of other plants could germinate. 

 Evidently they bring us no nearer to the origin of 

 life, which, as far as they are concerned, is something 

 as primitive and original as that of an atom of oxygen 

 or hydrogen or the force of chemical affinity. 

 Examples of the same kind might be drawn from 

 any of the lower forms of life. None of them give us 

 any mode of transition from the non-living and un 

 organised to the living and organised, nor do they 

 show any evidence of transition from one grade of 

 organised existence to another. 



Something may perhaps be learnt as to the 

 origin of life by a consideration of the probable 

 beginning of some of the organs of animals or plants. 

 I remember when a little boy being suddenly struck 

 on looking at myself in a mirror by the question, 

 How is it that I can see ; is not sight a very 

 wonderful thing ? I could not answer the question 



