CHAPTER V 



HAECKEL'S MATERIALISTIC THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF 



LIVING BEINGS 



The following are a few passages from Haeckel's Riddle 

 of the Universe bearing on the origin of life. 



" Max Verworn showed as a result of an ingenious 

 series of experimental researches that the 'theory of a 

 cell-soul ' is completely established by an accurate study 

 of the unicellular protozoa, and that ' the psychic phe- 

 nomena of the protistae ' form the bridge which unites the 

 chemical processes of inorganic nature with the mental 

 life of the highest animals." ^ 



" I restrict the idea of spontaneous generation — also 

 called abiogenesis or archigony — to the first development 

 of living protoplasm out of inorganic carbonates and 

 distinguish two phases in this ' beginning of biogenesis ' 

 — (i) autogony or the rise of the simplest protoplasmic 

 substances in a formative fluid, and (2) plasinogo7iy, the 

 differentiation of individual primitive organisms out of 

 these protoplasmic compounds in the form of 7no?iera." - 



" Modern physiology teaches us that the first source 

 of organic life on the earth is the formation of protoplasm, 

 and that this synthesis of simple inorganic substances, 

 water, carbonic acid and ammonia, only takes place 

 under the influence of sunlight."'^ 



' Riddle of the Universe, pp. 48, 49, 155. 

 2 Op. cit., p. 263. ■' Op. cit., p. 288. 



(3«) 



