ORIGIN OF LIFE. 181 



o'er the stagnant pool" the simplest arrangement of cell- 

 growth that spreads over the surface of the decaying rock, 

 are results beyond the proudest achievements of science. 

 And even could we in any way connect these manifestations 

 of life lowly as they are with the subtle agencies of heat, 

 light, and electricity, this would be only bringing us a little 

 nearer, but not within the precincts of that mysterious 

 shrine which science may not unveil, and before which the 

 proudest philosophy can only humble itself and adore. 



It may be a law of nature that inorganic matter, in cer- 

 tain conditions and under the influence of certain forces, 

 shall assume an organic form, but of the operations of such 

 a law, or of the forces which obey its behest, human know- 

 ledge stands in utter ignorance. It may be, as suggested 

 by Professor Owen, that " if it be ever permitted to man 

 to penetrate the mystery which enshrouds the origin of or- 

 ganic force, it will be, most probably, by experiment and 

 observation on the atoms that manifest the simplest condi- 

 tions of life," but in the mean time the lowly monad stands 

 as unrevealed as to its origin as the lordly man, or as the 

 still more subtle elimination of mental phenomena. "We 

 know something of the nature and functions of vitality its 

 order, and operations, and increase but of its origin we 

 know nothing. In vain have physicists experimented to 

 associate vital manifestation with electrical action : most 

 unsatisfactory the evidence for what naturalists, in ignor- 

 ance of the phenomena, have been pleased to designate 

 spontaneous generation ! This present ignorance, however, 

 can form no plea for the absence of future effort ; everything 

 unknown is not to be held as a miracle. On the contrary, 

 where natural science, under the direction of proper methods, 

 has already done so much towards the elucidation of Life 

 in all its aspects and operations, philosophy may surely be 

 permitted, humbly and reverently, to inquire into its cause 



