THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 39 



Behind the whole we must posit something which 

 no thought can comprehend. If we must find crea- 

 tive power somewhere, perhaps the beginning of life 

 may be an instance of its action. It may be well 

 then, inasmuch as it seems probable that the origin 

 of life can be nothing but a matter of speculation, to 

 class it with the origin of matter and force, and thus 

 to cease to explain it. 



The question, then, stands something like this. 

 There is not the slightest evidence to-day for be- 

 lieving that life can arise in any other way than 

 through the influence of other living protoplasm. 

 From the earliest living thing to the present there 

 seems to have been a direct continuity of protoplasm, 

 generation after generation resulting from the normal 

 processes of reproduction, but in no other way. May 

 it not be best to abandon the question of the origin 

 of life and to say that it first appeared as the result 

 of a creative fiat ? 



But this science refuses to do. Science grants 

 that there are insolvable mysteries, and that the 

 mechanical conceptions of the universe cannot ex- 

 plain all things. The origin of matter and force, the 

 origin of motion and consciousness, are utterly in- 

 solvable mysteries, and are hence outside the realm 

 of science. But it is thought that the origin of life 

 is not one of the transcendent mysteries, but is one 

 which will in due time be solved. This belief has 

 been more especially prevalent among scientists 

 since the precipitate advance of speculation in the 

 last twenty-five years, due to the growth of the ideas 

 comprised in the theory of evolution. This theory 



