74 LIFE. 



not formed by the aggregation of particles of lifeless matter 

 as conclusive aud as irrefragable as the evidence against any 

 such mode of formation of mice, elephants, or men. Vague 

 statements about the coalescence of molecules to form 

 particles of protoplasmic matter, or physical basis of life, are 

 not convincing. Every one naturally enquires what is the 

 nature of the molecules alluded to, but he gets no answer. 

 Of the molecules all, it may be admitted, are complex, but 

 we are not told how the elements of which they consist are 

 probably arranged, or what determines the new states of 

 combination as the protoplasmic substance comes into being. 

 To any one who has actually studied under the highest 

 powers of the microscope (3,000 linear and upwards), the 

 most minute living organisms, and has watched their move- 

 ments and growth, the statements^ advanced in favour of 

 spontaneous generation will appear hardly worthy of serious 

 discussion, because he will feel quite convinced that for a 

 long while before the living particle which he is able to see 

 acquired the size and substance necessary to render it 

 visible, it existed as a more minute and more transparent 

 yet active and living particle, capable of growing and 

 multiplying ; and that the act of coming together of non- 

 living molecules supposed, if it occurs at all, must take 

 place in particles so very very far beyond the reach of 

 observation and experiment, as to be quite undemonstra- 

 ble, if not inconceivable. While, on the other hand, the 

 further investigation is carried, the more reasons he gains 



of M. Pasteur, but he says nothing of the powers employed, or the de- 

 tails of the microscopic investigations carried out by M. Pasteur's 

 opponents. 



