1 82 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



have been already the abode of life. The difficulty of 

 the problem discussed by Biogenists and Abiogenists 

 is removed but a step, and remains untouched for one 

 who is ready, with Sir W. Thomson, to adopt as ' an 

 article of scientific faith, true through all space and 

 through all time, the theory that life proceeds from 

 life, and from nothing but life.' Nor must the fact 

 remain unnoticed that meteors have never been found 

 which either contain or show traces of having once 

 contained the germs of life. It might be expected 

 that if a globe so vast as our earth could be peopled 

 with all the forms of vegetable and animal life now 

 existing on its surface, through the agency of meteoric 

 stones, some signs of the seed-bearing character of 

 meteors would be recognised by microscopists. Yet 

 neither the solid bulk of meteoric stones, nor the light 

 meteoric dust which seems to be at all times sinking 

 through the air, has revealed, under the closest 

 microscopic scrutiny, the slightest trace which could 

 be regarded as confirmatory of Sir W. Thomson's 

 hypothesis. 



But the hypothesis is so clearly expressed as to leave 

 us in no doubt of the nature of these probabilities, pos- 

 sibilities, and certainties, in which its author believes. 

 We need not pass backwards to the former history of 

 our own earth, but may proceed to discuss its future 

 fate, as predicted according to this hypothesis. Our 

 earth is certainly to ' come into collision with another 

 body comparable in dimensions with itself,' and then 

 (if only the earth is in its present condition, as respects 



