UNEXPLAINED ORIGINS. 39 
ly, there is the overwhelming fact that there is an infinite 
difference of protoplasm in the infinitely different plants 
and animals, in each of which its own protoplasm but pro- 
duces its own kind. “Here are several thousand pieces 
of protoplasm; analysis can detect no difference in them. 
They are to us, let us say, as they are to Mr. Huxley, iden- 
tical in power, in form, and in substance; and yet on all 
these several thousand little bits of apparently indistin- 
guishable matter an element of difference so pervading 
and so persistent has been impressed, that of them all, 
not one is interchangeable with another! Each seed 
feeds its own kind. The protoplasm of the gnat will no 
more grow into the fly than it will grow into an elephant. 
Protoplasm is protoplasm; yes, but man’s protoplasm is 
man’s protoplasm, and the mushroom’s the mushroom’s.”’ 
(Dr. Sterling, “As Regards Protoplasm.’) Hence we 
are compelled to acknowledge not an identity of proto- 
plasm in all substances, but an infinite diversity. It follows 
that the derivation of all plant and animal forms from an 
original speck or germ of living matter is not only un- 
proven, but is contradicted by biological science. 
Darwin himself, like his co-laborer Wallace, was con- 
strained to admit that the origin of life constitutes an un- 
solved problem. ‘Matter and force do not account for it. 
Darwinjaccepted a divine fiat somewhere in the beginning. 
He says: ‘There is grandeur in this view of life, with its 
several powers, having been originally breathed by the 
Creator into the first forms or into one.” In other words, 
the creation of the first living being was an exceptional 
kind of power. But if, as Mr. Darwin says, life was 
breathed by the Creator into the first forms, this con- 
stitutes a break in the sufficiency of natural causes alone to 
produce life. If a special fiat was necessary at this point, 
why may it not have been at others? If by divine omni- 
potence, life is believed to have been originated, why shall 
