ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 329 



the expectation to which analogical reasoning leads 

 me, but," he adds, " I beg you once more to recol- 

 lect that I have no right to call my opinion any- 

 thing but an act of philosophical faith." ' 



Haeckel, as we have seen, is far more positive in 

 his assertions respecting spontaneous generation. 

 His theory of Monism absolutely demands it as a 

 sine qua non, and he is the first to announce that 

 abiogenesis he calls it autogeny is a necessary and 

 integral part of the hypothesis of universal Evolu- 

 tion, " a necessary event in the process of the develop- 

 ment of the earth." " He who does not assume a 

 spontaneous generation of monera ... to ex- 

 plain the first origin of life upon our earth, has no 

 other resource but to believe in a supernatural 

 miracle ; and this is the questionable standpoint still 

 taken by many so-called exact naturalists, who thus 

 renounce their own reason." a 



But suppose that some time or other it should 

 be proved, that spontaneous generation not only has 

 taken place, but that it actually occurs, hie et nunc f 

 The fact that we have as yet no evidence that it 

 ever has taken place, or that it does not occur now, 

 does not prove that it is impossible. We may not 

 be prepared to affirm, with Huxley and Fiske, that 

 it must have taken place at some period in past 

 history, but may we not admit the possibility of 

 the occurrence? We certainly do not agree with 

 Haeckel that we renounce our reason if we believe 

 in a special Divine intervention for the production 



l " Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews," pp. 366 et seq. 

 2 " The Evolution of Man," vol. I, p. 32. 



