COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



the other hand, even the demonstrated impos- 

 sibility of producing living things artificially 

 would not weigh a grain in the scale against the 

 doctrine that archebiosis may now occur, and 

 must at some time have occurred, in the great 

 laboratory of nature. That an evolution of or- 

 ganic existence from inorganic existence must 

 at some time have taken place is rendered cer- 

 tain by the fact that there was once a time when 

 no life existed upon the earth's surface. That 

 such evolution may even now regularly take 

 place, among such living things, for instance, 

 as the Bathybius of Haeckel — a sort of albu- 

 minous jelly growing in irregular patches on 

 the sea-bottom — is perhaps not impossible. 

 But that such evolution has been known to 

 take place in air-tight flasks containing decoc- 

 tions of hay, and has moreover resulted in the 

 formation of organisms like vibrios and fungus- 

 spores, is quite another proposition, which the 

 assertor of archebiosis is in no way bound to 

 maintain, and with the fate of which he need 

 not feel himself vitally concerned. 



The question of " spontaneous generation," 

 then, is but a part, and not the most essential 

 part, of the question as to the origin of life ; 

 and we need not be surprised at finding among 

 Dr. Bastian's opponents such an avowed evolu- 

 tionist as Professor Huxley. Practically, more- 

 over, the question at issue between the advo- 

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