THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 311 



What justification is there, then, for the assumption 

 of the existence in the living matter of a something 

 which has no representative or correlative in the not 

 living matter which gave rise to it ?' 



The reader's attention must, therefore, again be called 

 to the fact that our precise object is to ascertain 

 whether it is possible for the first particles of future 

 living matter to come together de novo^ and in obedience 

 to the same physical influences which are deemed 

 adequate to bring about its growth or increase ; or, 

 whether we are to suppose that the first particles of an 

 organism cannot be initiated apart from pre-existing 

 protoplasm, even though this protoplasm is believed by 

 a very large section of the physiological world to contain 

 no special and peculiar c force,' but to owe its qualities 

 entirely to the ordinary physical properties of the 

 elements entering into its composition. 



The actuality of the process of Archebiosis, as against 

 the hypothesis of the derivation of some organisms 

 from pre-existing though invisible germs, can only be 

 established if it can be shown that living things are to 

 be met with in the fluids from hermetically-sealed flasks 

 which have previously been exposed to a degree of heat 

 adequate to destroy all pre-existing Life. This is the 

 kind of test which was proposed by Needham and 

 Spallanzani, and which has been accepted by all subse- 

 quent workers, including Pasteur, as the only one which 

 was capable of throwing light upon the problem 1 . Much 



1 Though no one would suppose this to be the case from the mere 



