80 WHAT IS LIFE 



never arise de novo." The repeated boilings and 

 the high temperatures employed by bacteriologists 

 are made use of for the very purpose of sterilising 

 the media, and that the operation is a successful one 

 seems to be proved by the facts admitted by Dr. 

 Bastian, namely that (i.) no new life appears with- 

 out inoculation and (ii.) that after inoculation the 

 fluid can support the introduced life. It has not 

 been injured as a pabulum though all pre-existing 

 life has been destroyed in it. Dr. Bastian claims 

 that besides the power of maintaining life there is 

 also a power of engendering it which is destroyed 

 by those measures which bacteriologists think neces- 

 sary for the production of complete sterilisation. 

 All that one can say is that if the power of engender- 

 ing is not due to the presence of bacteria unkilled 

 on account of insufficient sterilisation it is a power 

 which has not been recognised by any other worker, 

 where did Suppose we grant that living matter has always 

 living matter come f rom living matter, which is indeed the scien- 



come from ? 



tific creed of the day, where did the first living 

 matter come from ? This world was once so hot 

 that no living thing could exist upon it. It cooled 

 down and a time arrived when life could exist. 

 Where did it come from ? It has been suggested 

 that living matter might have been brought to this 

 world from some other by means of a meteorite, 

 but this view, even if likely, which is not the case, 



