38 SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 



of creative power or other mysterious agency ; and 

 that matter requires but to be exposed to the influence 

 of certain conditions in order to assume the living 

 state. Nevertheless, every one admits that, in all the 

 instances he knows about, the living being did, with- 

 out doubt, come from a pre-existing living being. 

 But, he proceeds to argue, because a highly complex 

 creature cannot be formed direct from the dust of the 

 ground, does it therefore follow that all the simple 

 living forms modern research has brought under our 

 observation have come from pre-existing simple 

 creatures like themselves ? Why, he asks, are we to 

 assume that a simple structureless mass of jelly must 

 come from a pre-existing mass of jelly ? There must, 

 he urges further, have been, at least in the beginning, 

 a beginning of life. The living, at some time or other, 

 did spring direct from the lifeless. If, then, it is ad- 

 mitted that this has happened once, is it unreasonable, 

 he might ask, to conclude that it happened more 

 than once, nay, many times, nay, he might remark, 

 may we not feel sure that it has happened lately, and 

 is going on daily and hourly ? 



It is very generally admitted that ever since life 

 first appeared on our earth uninterrupted develop- 

 ment has proceeded, and it is maintained by many 

 that the evidence in favour of the view that the 

 higher forms have been derived by descent from lower 

 ones, is almost conclusive ; and, it might be said by 

 those who accept the doctrine, since " spontaneous 



