THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 33 



data, or methods of enquiry. This being the state of 

 this obscure problem, we can hardly blame the genial 

 physicist who put forward the hypothesis that life 

 never originated on our planet but arrived fully 

 formed in a meteorite, nor need we be surprised that 

 this hypothesis has been found capable of extension 

 into the doctrine that life is coeval with matter and 

 that living germs are constantly being propelled 

 through space by radiation to find a resting-place 

 on whatever planet has reached a condition suitable 

 to their existence and propagation. We know of 

 bacterial spores that could withstand the intense 

 heat and cold and lack of oxygen of interstellar space, 

 but a serious objection is the sensitiveness of such 

 spores to ultraviolet light, to the intense action of 

 which they would be exposed in their passage. 

 Enough, however, has been said to show that the 

 problem of the origin of life, whilst raising many 

 subsidiary questions of scientific interest, is hardly 

 itself within the range of serious scientific treatment. 



