46 THE LIVING WORLD. 



of the relation of speculation to the question of the 

 origin of life. 



The Significance of such Speculations. 



Now what are these speculations worth? Many 

 will immediately answer that they are worth noth- 

 ing. Others may regard them as having a certain 

 amount of suggestiveness, but no great value. It is 

 perfectly plain to every one that they are purely 

 hypothetical. Not only are they unproven hypoth- 

 eses, but they are further of such a nature that 

 there can be no evidence either for or against them. 

 They must unhesitatingly be set down as scarcely 

 more than bold guesses at a possibility. Even Hux- 

 ley says : " Of the causes which have led to the 

 origination of living matter it may be said we know 

 almost nothing." If, then, science is to confine it- 

 self to facts, these suggestions may be cast aside as 

 worthless. Why is it then that we find so many 

 biologists to-day willing, yes, more than willing, 

 anxious, to accept them ? Certainly it is not because 

 they are the simplest explanations, not because a 

 large number of converging lines of thought point 

 toward them. Those who seriously discuss these 

 speculations, or regard them as of any significance, 

 do so from some cause lying outside of the question 

 itself. 



And this cause is to be found in certain philosophical 

 conceptions. Science studies the world from one 

 standpoint only ; a standpoint which its devotees 

 naturally believe will lead them most surely to the 

 truth. This study of nature from the exterior has led 



