20 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



living material the plant has made for him, and 

 to consume it slowly in his own bod^. He de- 

 stroys it (as living matter) just as truly as a fire 

 does, and turns it loose on the air again in the 

 dead and inert forms of water and carbonic acid. 

 It is clear, then, that plants must have come 

 first, and animals afterward. The earliest living 

 beings must needs have been plants — very simple 

 plants ; yet essentially plants in this — that they 

 were green, and that they separated carbon and 

 hydrogen from oxygen under the influence of 

 sunlight. It is that above everything that makes 

 true plants ; though some degenerate plants have 

 now given up their ancestral habit, and behave in 

 this respect much like animals. 



How did the first plant of all come into 

 being ? 



About that, at present, we know very little. 

 We can only guess that, in the early ages of the 

 world, w^hen matter was fresher and more plastic 

 than now, certain combinations were set up be- 

 tween atoms under the influence of sunlight, 

 which formed the earliest living body. This 

 would be what is called ''spontaneous genera- 

 tion." Whether such spontaneous generation 

 ever took place is much disputed ; though some 

 people competent to form an opinion incline to 

 believe that it probably did take place in remote 

 times and under special conditions. But it is 

 certain, or almost certain, that in our own days 

 at least spontaneous generation does not take 

 place — perhaps because all the available material 

 is otherwise employed, perhaps because the con- 

 ditions are no longer favourable. At any rate, 

 we have every reason to suppose that at the 



