THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 89 



duced, it can develop vital forces and organisation, 

 including such phenomena as reproduction, sensation, 

 volition, &c. To believe either of these doctrines in 

 the present state of science is simply an act of faith, 

 not of that kind which is based on testimony or 

 evidence, however slight, but of that unreasoning 

 kind which we usually stigmatise as mere credulity 

 and superstition. 



In conclusion, it is a relief to turn from these 

 obscure and uncertain questions to the calm, clear, 

 and decisive statements of revelation already referred 

 to in the first chapter, which, while they give no 

 scientific details and do not in any way hamper the 

 progress of scientific inquiry and discussion, indicate 

 the ultimate conclusions at which this must finally 

 arrive. These we may now further consider in the 

 next chapter, in connection with the origin and 

 development of species in geological time. 



