106 Life and Matter [chap.vi. 



ration, a condition which may perhaps be 

 rather definite, if only we were aware of 

 what it was. But that undoubted fact is 

 quite consistent with any view as to the 

 nature of " life," and even with any view as to 

 the mode of its terrestrial commencement ; 

 there is nothing in that to say that it is a 

 function of matter alone, any more than the 

 wind is a function of the leaves which dance 

 under its influence ; there is nothing even to 

 contradict the notion that it sprang into 

 existence suddenly at a literal word of com- 

 mand. The improbability or absurdity of 

 such a conception as this last, except in the 

 symbolism of poetry, is extreme, and it is 

 unthinkable by any educated person ; but its 

 improbability depends upon other considera- 

 tions than biologic ones, and it is as 

 repugnant to an enlightened Theology as to 

 any other science. 



The mode in which biological speculation 

 as to the probable development of living out 

 of dead matter, and the general relation of 

 protoplasm to physics and chemistry, can 



