480 FRAGMENTS OF SGTKNCK. 



imperfect definitions. " the gentle mother of all "became 

 the object of her children's dread. Let us reverently, but 

 honestly, look the question in the face. Divorced from 

 matter, where is life? Whatever our faith may say, our 

 knowledge shows them to be indissolubly joined. Every 

 meal we eat, and every cup we drink, illustrates the 

 mysterious control of Mind by Matter. 



On tracing the line of life backward, we see it approach- 

 ing more and more to what we call the purely physical 

 condition. We come at length to those organisms which I 

 have compared to drops of oil suspended in a mixture of 

 alcohol and water. We reach the protogenes of Haeckel, 

 in which we have " a type distinguishable from a fragment 

 of albumen only by its finely granular character." Can we 

 pause here? We break a magnet, and find two poles in 

 each of its fragments. We continue the process of break- 

 ing; but, however small the parts, each carries with it, 

 though enfeebled, the polarity of the whole. And when 

 we can break no longer, we prolong the intellectual vision 

 to the polar molecules. Are we not urged to do something 

 similar in the case of life? Is there not a temptation to 

 close to some extent with Lucretius, when he affirms that 

 " Nature is seen to do all things spontaneously of herself 

 without the meddling of the gods?" or with Bruno, when 

 he declares that Matter is not " that mere empty capacity 

 which philosophers have pictured her to be, but the 

 universal mother who brings forth all things as the fruit 

 of her own womb?" Believing, as I do, in the continuity 

 of nature, I cannot stop abruptly where our microscopes 

 cease to be of use. Here the vision of the mind author- 

 itatively supplements the vision of the eye. By a necessity 

 engendered and justified by science I cross the boundary 

 of the experimental evidence,* and discern in that Matter 

 which we, in our ignorance of its latent powers, and not- 

 withstanding our professed reverence for its Creator, have 

 hitherto covered with opprobrium, the promise and potency 

 of all terrestrial Life. 



If you ask me whether there exists the least evidence to 

 prove that any form of life can be developed out of 

 matter, without demonstrable antecedent life, my reply is 

 that evidence considered perfectly conclusive by many has 



* This mode of procedure was not invented in Belfast. 



