84 Appendix. 



eules are generated in the atmosphere, and in water of the proper 

 temperature > and it is impossible to conceive how they could be 

 thus originated, without parentage, unless by spontaneous gener- 

 ation, or by a special creation of God. Do animalcules propa- 

 gate in the atmosphere or in water ? Is it possible to conceive 

 how animalcules, originating either in the atmosphere, in water, 

 or in vegetable infusions, and particularly in winter, in cold cli- 

 mates, could have a parental origin ? My belief is, that they are 

 produced spontaneously, by the elements and forces of nature. 



Can any one conceive how herbs and grasses, trees and 

 shrubs of various kinds, originated on islands of comparatively 

 recent origin, and on mountains many thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea (that must have been thrown up by internal 

 upheavals of the earth,) unless there have not only been innum- 

 erable special creations of seeds or original plants and trees, in 

 millions of places, but also that such special creations took place 

 at thousands of different periods in the world's history ; or 2d, 

 that the elements and forces of nature can, and have, originated 

 such organisms, and produced them spontaneously ? If you sup- 

 pose they all originated from special creations of God, the diffi- 

 culty is only partially removed the mystery still remains, how 

 they germinate and grow how they are preserved from the an- 

 tagonistic influences of the chemical and physical forces, and 

 how they reproduce their kind, in diverse modes, through the 

 agency of seeds, roots, slips and buds. Is it possible to form a 

 rational conception of the causes of the various natural processes 

 of living organisms, unless mother earth, and the elements and 

 forces of nature, have power to originate and develop them de 

 novo, as well as to preserve them, and cause them to propagate 

 their kind ? 



Pope, in his Essay on Manj gives a rational interpretation 

 to the nth and i2th verses of ist Genesis, when he says : 



" See through this air, this ocean, and this earth, 

 All matter quick, and bursting into birth. 

 Above, how nigh, progressive life may go ! 

 Around, how wide, how deep extend below ! 

 Vast chain of being! which from God began, 

 Nature's etherial, human, angel, man, 

 Beast, bird, flsh, insect ! what no eye can see, 

 No glass can reach ; from infinite to thee; 

 From thee to nothing." 



