62 THE KINGDOM OF MAN 



APPENDIX. 



/ add here a brief statement published by me in the TIMES, May ijth, 

 1903, which touches on the question of the origin of life, and 

 certain theories of creation. 



" It seems to me that, were the discussion excited by 

 Lord Kelvin's statements to the Christian Association at 

 University College allowed to close in its present phase, the 

 public would be misled and injustice done both to Lord Kelvin 

 and his critics. I therefore beg you to allow me to point out 

 what appear to me to be the significant features of the matter 

 under discussion. 



" Lord Kelvin, whose eminence as a physicist gives a special 

 interest to his opinion upon any subject, made at University 

 College, or in his subsequent letter to you, the following state- 

 ments : 



" i. That ' fortuitous concourse of atoms ' is not an inappro- 

 priate description of the formation of a crystal. 



" 2. That 'fortuitous concourse of atoms ' is utterly absurd 

 in respect to the coming into existence, or the growth, or the 

 continuation of the molecular combinations presented in the 

 bodies of living things. 



" 3. That, though inorganic phenomena do not do so, yet the 

 phenomena of such living things as a sprig of moss, a microbe, 

 a living animal looked at and considered as matters of scien- 

 tific investigation compel us to conclude that there is scientific 

 reason for believing in the existence of a creative and directive 

 power. 



" 4. That modern biologists are coming once more to a firm 

 acceptance of something, and that is ^a vital principle. 



" In your article on the discussion which has followed these 

 statements you declare that this (the opinions I have quoted 

 above) is 'a momentous conclusion,' and that it is a vital 

 point in the relation of science to religion. 



