130 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



life ? Let us put the question with the reverence due 

 to a faith and culture in which we all were cradled, and 

 which are the undeniable historic antecedents of our 

 present enlightenment. I say, let us put the question 

 reverently, but let us also put it clearly and definitely. 

 There are the strongest grounds for believing that 

 during a certain period of its history the earth was not, 

 nor was it fit to be, the theatre of life. Whether this 

 was ever a nebulous period, or merely a molten period, 

 does not signify much ; and if we revert to the nebulous 

 condition, it is because the probabilities are really on 

 its side. Our question is this : Did creative energy 

 pause until the nebulous matter had condensed, until 

 the earth had been detached, until the solar fire had so 

 far withdrawn from the earth's vicinity as to permit a 

 crust to gather round the planet ? Did it wait until 

 the air was isolated ; until the seas were formed ; until 

 evaporation, condensation, and the descent of rain had 

 begun ; until the eroding forces of the atmosphere had 

 weathered and decomposed the molten rocks so as to 

 form soils; until the sun's rays had become so tempered 

 by distance, and by waste, as to be chemically fit for 

 the decompositions necessary to vegetable life? Having 

 waited through these aeons until the proper conditions 

 had set in, did it send the fiat forth, ' Let there be 

 Life ! ' ? These questions define a hypothesis not with- 

 out its difficulties, but the dignity of which in relation 

 to the world's knowledge was demonstrated by the 

 nobleness of the men whom it sustained. 



Modern scientific thought is called upon to decide 

 between this hypothesis and another; and public 

 thought generally will afterwards be called upon to do 

 the same. But, however the convictions of individuals 

 here and there may be influenced, the process must be 

 slow and secular which commends the hypothesis of 



