140 INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE 



in Nature's laboratory of chemical synthesis a 

 somewhat hypothetical witch's cauldron could 

 take the place of the directive chemist; and (3) 

 that there is a great gap between making organic 

 matter and making an organism. 



The origin of organisms upon the earth remains 

 a riddle, and the most that we can say is, that the 

 hypothesis of the evolution of the living from the 

 not-living is in harmony with the general trend 

 of evolutionary theory. If it should become a 

 tenable theory, the dignity and value of living 

 creatures and of our own life would not be in any 

 way affected. On the contrary, if the dust of the 

 earth did naturally give rise to living creatures, 

 if they are in a real sense born of her and the 

 sunshine, then the whole world becomes more 

 continuous and vital, and all the inorganic groan- 

 ing and travailing becomes more intelligible. 



We venture to quote in this connection a 

 passage from Prof. Lloyd Morgan's Interpretation 

 of Nature, which seems to us peculiarly useful in 

 a little book like this. "It is true, and should be 

 frankly admitted, that in the present state of 

 natural knowledge the antecedent conditions of 

 the genesis of protoplasm are unknown." . . . 

 But, "those who would single out from among 

 the multitudinous differentiations of an evolving 

 universe this alone for special interposition would 

 seem to do little honour to the Divinity they 



