SCIENTIFIC USE OF THE IMAGINATION. 129 



clergymen were present at the lecture. The orator 

 began with the civilisation of Egypt in the time of 

 Joseph ; pointing out the very perfect organisation of 

 the kingdom, and the possession of chariots, in one of 

 which Joseph rode, as proving a long antecedent period 

 of civilisation. He then passed on to the mud of the 

 Nile, its rate of augmentation, its present thickness, 

 and the remains of human handiwork found therein : 

 thence to the rocks which bound the Nile valley, and 

 which teem with organic remains. Thus in his own 

 clear way he caused the idea of the world's age to ex- 

 pand itself indefinitely before the minds of his audience, 

 and he contrasted this with the age usually assigned to 

 the world. During his discourse he seemed to be swim 

 ming against a stream, he manifestly thought that he 

 was opposing a general conviction. He expected resist- 

 ance in the subsequent discussion ; so did I. But it 

 was all a mistake ; there was no adverse current, no 

 opposing conviction, no resistance; merely here and 

 there a half-humorous, but unsuccessful attempt to en- 

 tangle him in his talk. The meeting agreed with all 

 that had been said regarding the antiquity of the earth 

 and of its life. They had, indeed, known it all long 

 ago, and they rallied the lecturer for coming amongst 

 them with so stale a story. It was quite plain that this 

 large body of clergymen, who were, I should say, to be 

 ranked amongst the finest samples of their class, had en- 

 tirely given up the ancient landmarks, and transported 

 the conception of life's origin to an indefinitely distant 

 past. 



This leads us to the gist of our present enquiry, 

 which is this : Does life belong to what we call matter, 

 or is it an independent principle inserted into matter 

 at some suitable epoch say when the physical condi- 

 tions became such as to permit of the development of 



