DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 53 



Generatio acqulcoca covers the entire 

 ground of the materialists. Here the 

 doctrine has not only its principal roots 

 but all of them. 



If the materialists lose this foothold, 

 all their natural science resources are 

 emptied at once, so important is gen- 

 eratio spontanea for materialism. Only 

 under this form and with this sub- 

 stance can natural science have any- 

 thing in common with materialism, 

 which latter, strictly speaking, is only 

 a religious doctrine, although as such 

 purely negative. But just for this rea- 

 son science has for centuries labored 

 to decide whether this doctrine is false 

 or true. 



The question is, does or does not this 

 spontaneous generation exist? Scien- 

 tific research has, in all times, occupied 

 itself with this question in different 

 forms and modes. 



The farther we go back in time the 

 more general we find the opinion that 

 life may arise spontaneously from in- 

 organic matter. That such an idea 



