336 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



make even a microscopic speck of protoplasm than 

 he can fashion a rose or a butterfly. 



Another consequence follows from the recent dis- 

 coveries regarding protoplasm, and that is, the im- 

 possibility of originating life. If protoplasm is the 

 simplest form of matter in which life exists, and if it 

 is impossible to manufacture even the smallest par- 

 ticle of inanimate protoplasm, much less living pro- 

 toplasm, it is a fortiori impossible to produce an 

 entity exhibiting the phenomena characteristic of a 

 living being. 



For a similar reason, all likelihood of discovering 

 evidence in favor of spontaneous generation has van- 

 ished. One may not, indeed, assert that it is entirely 

 impossible. So far, it is true, protoplasm is the sim- 

 plest substance which exhibits the phenomena of life, 

 and we know of no kind of protoplasm which is sim- 

 pler than that above mentioned. This, however, does 

 not imply that there are not simpler forms of living 

 matter. It is possible that there are living beings so 

 simple that their composition may be represented 

 exactly by a chemical formula ; that they have a 

 fixed, definite, molecular arrangement, like some of 

 our complex organic compounds. It is possible that 

 ultimately the chemist may discover the proximate 

 constituents of such a substance, and be able to in- 

 dicate how it is produced by nature, or how it may 

 be manufactured in an inanimate condition in the 

 laboratory. All this is possible, all conceivable. The 

 past triumphs of organic chemistry, as well as our 

 increasing knowledge of the lower forms of life, per- 

 mit such an assumption. Yet it is only an assump- 



