. 
ae — 
ye ok , 
36 UNEXPLAINED ORIGINS. 
called protoplasm. From it, by successive modifications, 
slow in their operation, the teeming variety of living 
things is believed to have developed. Now it is a notable 
fact, that many evolutionists (among them Alfred Russell 
Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory which goes un- 
der Darwin's name) frankly admit the inability to account 
for the origin of protoplasm. From mineral substances, 
protoplasm differs in that it possesses the power of growth, 
development, and reproduction. The very first vegetable 
cell “must have possessed altogether new powers,” says 
Mr. Wallace, “that of extracting carbon from the air 
and that of indefinite reproduction. Here,”—note this 
admission,—‘“‘we have indications of a new power at 
work.” In other words, forces resident in matter no 
longer suffice. The evolutionistic principle breaks down. 
Some fifty years ago it was thought that experimental 
proof had been found for the presence on earth of the 
original, simple, unorganized protoplasm; that the basis 
of all life on earth had been discovered,—in the depths 
of the ocean. The story of this “discovery” is entertain- 
ingly told by the Duke of Argyle in the “Nineteenth Cen- 
tury” magazine. We quote from his article. 
“Along with the earlier specimens of deep sea deposits 
sent home by naturalists during the first soundings in 
connection with the Atlantic telegraph cable, there was 
very often a sort of enveloping slimy mucus in the con- 
taining bottles which arrested the attention and excited 
the curiosity of the specialists to whom they were con-' 
signed. It was structureless to all miscroscopic examina- 
tion. But so is all the protoplasmic matter of which the 
lowest animals are found. Could it be a widely diffused 
medium of this protoplasmic material, not yet specialized 
or individualized into organic forms, nor itself yet in a 
condition to build up inorganic skeletons for a habitation? 
Here was a grand idea. It would be well to find missing 
