CHAPTER IV. 



VEGETABLE LIFE. 



Origin of Life. Spontaneous generation. Sir William Thomson on seed 

 bearing Meteors. Cornhill Magazine. Atomagnetism. No seed 

 required. Railway Cuttings. Clover. How a plant grows without 

 a seed. Scripture proof for it. Seeds rot. Hardwood and soft 

 wood Forests. Darwin's " Origin of Species " overthrown. 

 Thousands of plants in the first creation. New plants with every- 

 change of soil and climate. Present theory of plant life. How a 

 cell develops. Absurdity of plants breathing. Why roots and 

 branches spread. Experiments to prove the reason. Why a tree 

 does not grow in winter. 



FOR a number of years of late, there has been considerable 

 discussion on the origin of life upon the earth. Vegetable life 

 has been accepted as its lowest form, and numberless theories 

 have been advanced, some in favor of spontaneous generation, 

 but most against it. The latest and most extraordinary theory 

 is that advanced by Sir Wm. Thomson. 



In a lecture before the British Association, he suggested that 

 Meteors were seed bearing. For instance, two worlds or more 

 collided in space and burst ; and the fragments bearing moss 

 seeds found their way to our earth ; and thus generated life on 

 it. But supposing this correct, his theory would not account 

 for the origin of life in the universe ; there must have been a 

 higher power to originate the seed bearing meteors 



