148 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



is strongly of the opinion that it would be almost 

 impossible for such a consilience of factors favour- 

 able to life as are formed on the Earth to be 

 repeated on any other planet. He says, in his 

 work, Mans Place in the Universe : " The combina- 

 tions of causes which lead to this result (life) are 

 so varied, and in several cases dependent on such 

 exceptional peculiarities of physical constitution, 

 that it seems in the highest degree improbable 

 that they can all be found again combined either 

 in the solar system or even in the stellar universe" ; 

 and he points out that the various factors that 

 render life possible are interrelated in a very com- 

 plicated and delicate way. 



