CHAPTER V. 



The Materialistic Demonstration of 

 Gcneratio Spontanea. 



THIS whole method is consequently 

 unsatisfactory. With Harvey's law 

 proved in the empirical way, the only 

 way hitherto tried, we are still unable 

 to decide how the first organism came 

 into existence, and this is probably 

 after all the most important question. 

 Because, as Biichner rightly points out: 

 "If life has a supernatural beginning, it 

 has also a supernatural subsequent ex- 

 istence." Even if w^e were observing 

 with our own eyes the creation of the 

 first organism we would not be able to 

 say whether it were the result of nat- 

 ural or supernatural forces. The mo- 

 ment our study commenced, the mystic 

 act of creation would already have 

 taken place, an act which lies beyond 



