DISCUSSION 99 



That there was a time when living beings 

 came into existence is obviously true, and we 

 may assume that they were formed from 

 inorganic materials, not by way of direct crea- 

 tion. But the question is, whether they could of 

 themselves have come into existence from inor- 

 ganic matter spontaneously or not. Scientific 

 facts disprove the possibility of spontaneous 

 generation, and therefore, in the present state of 

 our knowledge, we are justified in assuming that 

 the first organisms came into existence in conse- 

 quence of the Creator's influence upon original 

 matter. The contrary hypothesis, that, viz., of 

 spontaneous generation, cannot claim even scien- 

 tific probability. This becomes plain when we 

 examine the arguments which Plate brings 

 forward to support it. Reinke showed long 

 ago that it was absolutely unreasonable to 

 assume that, in some previous age, completely 

 different conditions, which would have rendered 

 spontaneous generation possible, prevailed upon 

 our earth. 1 



That such conditions perhaps still prevail in 

 the interior of the earth is not to be imagined, 

 as the intense pressure would inevitably destroy 

 all organic life. In the second place, Plate 

 suggests some definite elements as the living 

 constituents of organisms. If an organism 

 at death is resolved into these constituents, it 



1 Cf. Wasinann, Modern Biology, pp. 207, 208. 



