THE METHOD BY WHICH THE CAUSES OF 

 THE PRESENT AND PAST CONDITIONS 

 OF ORGANIC NATURE ARE TO BE 

 DISCOVERED. THE ORIGINATION OF 

 LIVING BEINGS 



IN the two preceding lectures I have endeavoured to 

 indicate to you the extent of the subject-matter of the 

 inquiry upon which we are engaged ; and now, having 

 thus acquired some conception of the Past and Present 

 phenomena of Organic Nature, I must now turn to that 

 which constitutes the great problem which we have set 

 before ourselves ; I mean, the question of what knowledge 

 we have of the causes of these phenomena of organic 

 nature, and how such knowledge is obtainable. 



Here, on the threshold of the inquiry, an objection meets 

 us. There are in the world a number of extremely worthy, 

 well-meaning persons, whose judgments and opinions 

 are entitled to the utmost respect on account of their 

 sincerity, who are of opinion that Vital Phenomena, and 

 especially all questions relating to the origin of vital 

 phenomena, are questions quite apart from the ordinary 

 run of inquiry, and are, by their very nature, placed out 

 of our reach. They say that all these phenomena originated 

 miraculously, or in some way totally different from the 

 ordinary course of nature, and that therefore they conceive 

 it to be futile, not to say presumptuous, to attempt to 

 inquire into them. 



To such sincere and earnest persons, I would only say, 

 that a question of this kind is not to be shelved upon 

 theoretical or speculative grounds. You may remember 

 the story of the Sophist who demonstrated to Diogenes 

 in the most complete and satisfactory manner that he 

 .Id not walk ; that, in fact, all motion was an impossi- 

 bility ; and that Diogenes refuted him by simply getting 

 up and walking round his tub. So, in the same way, the 

 man of science replies to objections of this kind, by simply 



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