32 THE MYSTERY OF LIFE. 



living things will be formed de novo ? And 

 since the earliest state of the matter of man 

 cannot be distinguished from the earliest state 

 of the matter of the lowest living forms, is it not 

 certain that when modern science shall have 

 discovered the complex collocations requisite 

 to produce such a result, man shall be able to 

 produce from a solution of non-living matter a 

 living germ, if not of man, at any rate of one 

 of the higher animals ? This, if placed under 

 the requisite conditions for development (which 

 are not understood at this moment, but will very 

 shortly be accurately defined) would, of course, 

 assume its characteristic form. Indeed, if we 

 accept the statements that have been made, it 

 may be regarded as certain, that at no very 

 distant period an artificially evolved living being 

 will triumphantly proclaim its own independent 

 origin, and from its own experience relate to us 

 the story of its evolution, traced back through 

 various stages to its immediate construction out 

 of the non-living, when the lifeless molecules of 

 the inorganic so arranged themselves as to 

 develop from their lower forces the higher vital 

 mode. Then will the sceptic regret his unbelief, 

 and joyfully become a convert to the New 

 Philosophy. 



