48 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



he then take ? — for such would be a very different thing 

 from protoplasm making itself de novo by autogony. 



Let the chemist do for Nature a good turn in provid- 

 ing all the elements required, each being in as nearly the 

 exact proportion as is known to be in protoplasm, mix 

 them all together, then leave them to themselves^ and see 

 if they will make protoplasm or even albumen. That 

 would at least be helping autogony if such exist, by 

 providing all the materials for life. 



The assumption of Lankester of a quasi organic sub- 

 stance on the road to the formation of protoplasm is, of 

 course, a pure assumption to support the theory that 

 living protoplasm arose out of the inorganic world by 

 some natural process. 



All I contend for is, that, at present, we are in total 

 darkness ; but people who know nothing of science are 

 only too ready to accept as truths whatever an eminent 

 man such as Lankester or Haeckel chooses to say. 



Surely it is more philosophical to call oneself an 

 Agnostic where we " do not know," than to hazard base- 

 less hypotheses to be accepted by people who have no 

 knowledge to enable them to see their baselessness. 



