LAUGEL'S PROBLEMS OF NATURE AXD LIFE. 351 



the several questions which science has suggested or 

 speculation created upon the subject. And the first 

 we encounter here is one of the most momentous ; 

 that, namely, which respects ' Spontaneous Genera- 

 tion, ' an enquiry bequeathed to us in a vague form 

 from remote antiquity, and recently revived under 

 conditions of very delicate experimental research. The 

 question simply is, Can matter of any kind, under 

 any circumstances, generate life, without the presence 

 of the ova or germs of prior life ? Though the enquiry 

 has applied itself only to the lower forms of infusoria, 

 whose motions under the microscope may almost be 

 called a mockery of life, yet it is one of deep interest, 

 whatever the issue ; involving, as it does, in connexion 

 with recent doctrines of derivation and development, 

 the whole question of the origin of life on the earth. 

 This interest is testified by the keenness of controversy 

 going on. The careful and refined researches of 

 Pasteur and Pouchet, on opposite sides of the question, 

 in France, have been earned forward by English ob- 

 servers, with not less skill in experiment ; yet the 

 contest still goes on, even angrily, as to these units of 

 creation : whether the old doctrine shall be maintained, 

 ' Omne vivum a vivo,' or whether inorganic matter 

 may not, under certain conditions, assume the lower 

 characters of life ? 



If called upon to give any judgment where asser- 

 tions are thus conflicting, and the tests of truth so 

 difficult, it would be in favour of the former of these 

 opinions; while admitting that we have no absolute 

 proof to gainsay the latter. One might well borrow 



