UNINTERRUPTED DEVELOPMENT. 39 



generation is still in operation, the lineal descendants 

 of the simple beings which are now being evolved in 

 vast numbers direct from the non-living, will, after 

 the lapse of ages, during which progressive change 

 'shall never cease, become the parents of highly de- 

 e veloped organisms totally distinct from any which 

 have yet existed, and of which we, with our imperfect 

 knowledge of the properties of the particles of non- 

 living matter, cannot form even the faintest concep- 

 tion. But if our knowledge was sufficient, we should 

 ;be able to determine now the specific characters of 

 the creatures that are to be in the ages yet to come." 

 May we not argue back with equal justice that the 

 "producer is greater than the thing produced, and that, 

 therefore, we ought to go at once to the fountain 

 head for life, which on this theory would be the 

 simplest non-living matter ? Further, it has been 

 argued, " since we can trace a certain gradational re- 

 lationship between the higher and the lower forms of 

 living beings, we may consider it proved that the non- 

 living is related to the lowest, simplest living in the 

 same sort of way." The new philosophy, after affirming 

 that the higher life passes by imperceptible grada- 

 tions into the lower life, enquires, can it be possible 

 that any one with intelligence should doubt for one 

 moment that the lowest life passes gradually into the 

 non-living ? And modern philosophy boasts of her 

 exactness, and professes to accept nothing that can- 

 not be proved by observation and experiment. But 



