CHAP, i.] ON THE ORIGIN OF ORGANISED BEINGS. 303 



produced little by little, slowly, by this patient labour of accu- 

 mulated ages. But this new geological doctrine was incompatible 

 with the sudden destructions and creations of the organised 

 world. If the habitat had been slowly modified, it was necessary 

 to believe that the inhabitant had been slowly modified too. 

 The grand doctrine of organic revolution created by Lamarck, 

 completed by Darwin, has come then to demonstrate the muta- 

 bility of the organised species, and to furnish the genealogy 

 thereof. It was a real revolution, and many naturalists have not 

 decided for or against it ; but nevertheless, the tide is gradually 

 rising. The doctrine of evolution is already almost triumphant. 

 There scarcely remains for the recalcitrants any other resources 

 than to demonstrate its perfect agreement with the dogmas they 

 are not willing to abandon. The thing is in process of execution. 

 The interpreters are skilful, the sacred texts obliging, the 

 metaphysical theories ductile, malleable, and flexible. Courage ! 

 We must be very narrow-minded indeed not to recognise in the 

 first chapter of Genesis a succinct exposition of the Darwinian 

 theory. 



But if the doctrine of evolution makes us descend step by 

 step to the most rudimentary organised beings, it does not go 

 further ; and we must admit, at least here, the intervention of a 

 spontaneous generation. This consequence is revolting to many 

 men of science who accept all the rest. They reject the notion 

 that matter has in itself the power of self -organisation in certain 

 given conditions. Yet many of these rebels formerly believed 

 in the spontaneous generation of the mammoth at a time when 

 the doctrine of successive creations was in vogue. But now, 

 rather than resign themselves to the cruel necessity of admitting, 

 even as a simple possibility, spontaneous generation, they prefer 

 resuscitating the old theory of errant germs.. The interplanetary 

 spaces are, they think, bestrewn with germs, born we know not 

 how, coming we know not whence, and waiting we know not how 

 long, for a passage to a planet sufficiently mature to serve them 

 as nourishing receptacle, as matrix. 



