THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



had not formed any genuine living cell up to that 

 time, but they nevertheless possessed in them- 

 selves the requirements for the generation of such 

 a cell at a favorable temperature. And we must 

 add, furthermore, that these substances pos- 

 sessed not only the chemical and physical ele- 

 ments of matter and motion out of which the 

 special structure of the cell could rise under given 

 conditions, they also had a general basic element 

 of feeling out of which the same life of the cell 

 could be built. In other words, we must start 

 from the simple assumption that, in some way, 

 feeling is a basic property of all matter in the 

 universe, including all inorganic substances. This 

 fundamental quality is not affected by any degree 

 of temperature, nor dependent upon it. A large 

 number of the clearest thinkers in this field have 

 arrived at this idea by various roads and have 

 admitted it frankly. Among modern scientists, 

 I mention only Fechner and Haeckel. 



Haeckel, who has championed and popularized 

 this idea of "spontaneous generation" more ener- 

 getically than any other man, has at the same 

 time incessantly emphasized in various parts of 

 his works that he considers primitive feeling as 

 an essential and fundamental quality of all matter 

 in the universe. If this is understood, we shall 



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