88 LECTURES ON BIOLOGY 



' ' A man is being made ! ' . . . 



' Heaven forbid ! ' As nonsense we declare 

 The ancient precreative mode ; 

 The tender point, life's spring, the gentle strength 

 That took and gave, that from within has pressed 

 " And seized, intent itself to manifest. 



The nearest first, the more remote at length, 



This from its dignity is not dethroned ! 



The brute indeed may take delight therein, 



But man, by whom such mighty gifts are owned 



Must have a purer, higher origin. 



It flashes, see 1 Now may we trustful hold 



That if of substances a hundredfold 



Through mixture for on mixture it depends- - 



The human substance duly we compose 



And then in a retort enclose 



And cohobate, in still repose, 



The work is perfected, our labour ends. 



What Nature's mystery we once did style 



That now to test our reason tries ; 



And what she organized erstwhile, 



We now are fain to crystallize." 



GOETHE, Faust II., Act ii. 



He who had been created in this miraculous manner was to 

 repay his human creator for this labour of love by rendering 

 unnecessary all further speculating and giving him an answer 

 to every question. The days of the Homunculus are gone, 

 but even to-day the firm belief remains, especially among the 

 agricultural population, that fleas and other vermin are generated 

 by pouring urine on sawdust. 



But let us relinquish these ' grey theories ' and turn to the 

 question : How must science conceive the first appearance on 

 earth of organisms ? That there was a time once when no life 

 existed on earth can no longer remain doubtful, for we are forced 

 on all sides to the conclusion that the earth itself has passed 

 through radical changes during a development which is still 

 going on. If we make these considerations our starting-point, 

 how are we to conceive the origin of life ? When we have 

 definitely declined a divine creative act there are obviously two 

 possibilities : either life has been transmitted to our planet from 

 outside, from another cosmic body, and has gradually developed 



