70 



DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 



everywhere and during all time only 

 those elements and forces have been 

 active which surround us today. No- 

 where has a point been found where 

 research had to be thrown overboard 

 and an interference of unknown forces 

 substituted; and nowhere and never 

 will this happen. Everywhere the same 

 laws were in force and the same matter 

 was found. Historical research has 

 demonstrated that past and present are 

 subject to the same evolution, rest on 

 the same basis." And different it could 

 not be, reasons Btichner, since life 

 knows no exceptions, does not shirk 

 any inorganic forces, but is itself only 

 the result of the activity of these forces. 

 To obtain a definite understanding 

 of the origin of life it is therefore sufB- 

 cient to examine the origin of organic 

 matter in our days, and for such an 

 analysis there is at least no lack of 

 material. Wherever a tree or a grass 

 blade grows or a seed sprouts there 

 dead substance is transformed into liv- 

 ing; wherever an animal or a plant is 



