THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 305 



microscopical evidence does not enable us to get rid of 

 the doubt that the smallest visible specks of living 

 matter may have originated from invisible c germs' of 

 such organisms, neither does it any more enable us to 

 dispense with the supposition that the smallest visible 

 crystals may have originated from pre-existing invisible 

 c germs ' of crystals. The very existence of the one 

 set of invisible c germs 'is, in fact, just as hypothetical 

 as the existence of the other. Plastide-particles and 

 Bacteria we do know ; but concerning the existence of 

 invisible c germs/ of these we know just as little as 

 we do concerning the existence of invisible ( germs ' 

 of crystals. 



