88 THE GERM-PLASM THEORY 



matter there are "only two possibilities : either 

 they have been borne to our earth from outside, 

 from somewhere else in the universe [which would, 

 of course, only shift the question of their origin one 

 stage further off], or they have originated upon 

 our earth itself through what is called spontan- 

 eous generation ' generatio spontanea " (ii. 364). 

 Now, as we all know, every effort to prove the 

 existence of spontaneous generation has so far 

 failed. It is true, all that this amounts to is that 

 no experiment has ever yet succeeded in showing 

 that spontaneous generation takes place, and there 

 are those who argue that some experiment may yet 

 turn out to be successful. Well, science is based 

 on observed facts ; and this at least may be said 

 that all the facts so far observed, and all the observa- 

 tions of Pasteur and the most acute experimental- 

 ists who have ever yet lived, are totally opposed 

 to the theory of spontaneous generation. Others, 

 again, have held, like Huxley, that if we could 

 " look beyond the abyss of geologically recorded 

 time," we might be witnesses " of the evolution 

 of living protoplasm from not-living matter." 

 Weismann agrees with those who deny the possi- 

 bility of the introduction of living matter on a 

 meteorite from some other sphere, and hence for 

 him spontaneous generation is a " logical necessity" 

 (ii. 366). He admits that up to now " all attempts 

 to discover the conditions [under which spon- 

 taneous generation might occur] have been futile." 

 Moreover, he does not believe that such experi- 

 ments can ever be successful, " not because the 

 conditions must be so peculiar in nature that we 



