THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



The easiest and quickest thin^^ to do is to cut the 

 Gordian knot of the question with the sword of faith, or 

 answer it with a behef in a supernatural creation. The 

 first article of the creed was given to us in childhood as 

 the foundation of all cosmic philosophy. It is based on 

 the Mosaic account of creation in the first chapter of 

 Genesis. As I have fully examined its scientific value in 

 the second chapter of my History of Creation, I may refer 

 the reader thereto. It is unquestionable that this myth 

 still has a very great practical influence; the great 

 majority of the clergy cling to it because it is found in 

 the infallible ' ' word of God. ' ' Most governments, which 

 hold blind faith to be an important element of education, 

 include it in the code for the elementary school. On the 

 other hand, it is difficult to find a man of science who 

 will uphold it to-day. The gifted Louis Agassiz made 

 one of the most remarkable attempts to do this in his 

 Essay on Classification (1858), a book that appeared 

 almost contemporaneously with Darwin's epoch-making 

 Origin of Species, and dealt with the general problems of 

 biology from the directly opposite, the mystic, point of 

 view. According to Agassiz, each species of animal or 

 plant is an "incarnate thought of the Creator." 



Differing from this Biblical fancy of the supernatural 

 creation of each species, two botanists, Wigand of 

 Marburg and Reinke of Kiel, have lately restricted the 

 action of the celestial architect very considerably; they 

 have ascribed to him only the creation of the primitive 

 cells, which he is supposed to have endowed with the 

 power to develop into the higher organisms. Wigand 

 assumed for the origin of each species a special primitive 

 cell and a long phylogenetic develo])ment of this; Reinke 

 prefers a stem, composed of a number of species. These 

 modern creative theories have no more scientific value 

 than that of Agassiz; they are equally based on pure 

 superstition {cf. chapters i.-iii.). 



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