FROM MATTER TO MAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Origin of Existence. 



The preliminary problem in all human speculation 

 has ever been, the origin of existence, and it still 

 frets the natural philosopher; but the solution is 

 partly determined by the definition of the problem, 

 and its accuracy for to-day depends almost wholly 

 upon the meaning which present intelligence attaches 

 to the term origin. 



Every origin in the universe necessarily includes 

 both the thing made and that out of which it is made. 

 For as nothing begets nothing, so something must be 

 begotten of something. As no definition of origin, 

 therefore, however orthodox, can be accurate which 

 assumes a creation of something from nothing, origin 

 in so far as it refers to the universe is meaningless. 

 Hence, origin is only a term which describes a 

 particular transition stage of existence between 



