BIOGENESIS AND ABIOGENESIS 127 



island but does not explain palm trees in 

 general. And the possible existence of living 

 germs in space does not explain the origin of 

 life. We may, therefore, pass to other sugges- 

 tions, prefacing them by a statement of Naegeli, 

 a most distinguished botanist : "If in the 

 physical world all things stand in causal con- 

 nection with one another, if all phenomena 

 proceed along natural paths, then A organisms 

 which build themselves up from and finally 

 disintegrate into the substances of which in- 

 organic nature consists, must have originated 

 primitively from inorganic compounds. To 

 deny spontaneous generation is to proclaim a 

 miracle." With this statement we can only 

 quarrel on one point and that is the ill-chosen 

 word miracle. In the sense of miraculum a A Miracle 

 thing to be wondered at the word is all right, 

 but philosophically it is all wrong. The schol- 

 astic definition of a miracle is Opus sensibile, 

 divlnitus factum, insolitum, supernaturale 

 sensible, effected divinely, unusual, super- 

 natural. And St Thomas says that " those 

 effects are rightly to be termed miracles which 

 are wrought by divine power apart from the 

 order usually observed in nature." Or again : 

 " Those effects are rightly to be termed miracles 

 which are wrought by divine power apart from 

 the order usually observed in nature." If 



