170 From Matter to Man. 



the inviolable chemical law of " combination in 

 definite proportions " restricts, to a certain degree, the 

 number of possible combinations and assimilations. 

 At the same time, slight differences in the proportion 

 of the combining elements of a plant might and 

 probably does involve differences in form and function 

 sufficient to constitute a new species. 



We thus assume that only the simplest plants were 

 automatically evolved in numerous centres ; while the 

 higher genera, those producing special flowers and 

 fruit, no matter how widely distributed over the 

 world now, had only one genital centre. 



Section 8. Life ; 



As in the mineral kingdom so in the vegetal king- 

 dom, energy and life are alike ; hence what we have 

 described as the origin and cause of a plant's energy 

 must also be accepted as the origin and cause of its 

 life : a conclusion which shall inevitably raise an 

 ecclesiastical and philosophical storm ; not so much 

 on account of its falsity, as on the unpalatableness of 

 its truth, for the business and bread and butter of our 

 priests and prophets largely depend on the accept- 

 ance or rejection of this materialistic origin of life by 

 the world at large. 



Darwin, to our present wonder, characterised the 

 origin of life " a hopeless inquiry." Here he com- 

 mitted the common error of speaking for futurity. 

 He assumed that the knowledge of his day was 

 ultimate and for all time, instead of only transitional, 



