E. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 





la 



ph 



^'■^ no more 

 ich take 



h^ase is, more. 

 if retained 



It 



pnenomena at 

 to be 



I 



een attempted 



.ve written on 



have failed to 



which exists 



not-liviDj 

 whatever 



f 



I 



ce 



rom 



,n in 



familiar, or \ 



substance 



of a 





^■hich is » 



inds of 



the mi 



)f living 



the m^tt^' 



» 



I 

 I 



roin 



a 



to 



) 



n 



icrbt b^' 



llO«'' 



tlier' 



I 



245 



imagine the actual 



would at least be a continuity of . Life — the peculiar 

 powers of living matter would be directly communi- 

 cated or transmitted, although such living matter might 

 take on new modes of growth and development ; but in 

 the occurrence of Archebiosis they would have to 



new creation of the special and 

 peculiar 'something^ which they mentally associate 

 with the word ^ Life/ 



r 



The general views entertained concerning Life — its 

 nature^ or the meaning to be attached to it as a term — 

 exercise no small influence in producing a variation in 

 the point of view of different writers as to the nature of 

 certain phenomena. Thus^ statements which appear to 

 many to be consistent only with a belief in Archebiosis, 

 are, when taken in conjunction with the general views 

 of the writers, often found not to warrant such a con- 

 clusion. This may be best explained by a reference to 

 the opinions of two or three well-known writers on 

 the subject. 



In the first volume of his ^Physiologie,^ published in 

 182(5, Burdach introduced the words Homogenia and 

 Heterogema^ as names for the two principal class 

 distinctions in the mode of origin of living things. 

 Homogenia was the class-name applied to the processes 

 by which an individual results from a pre-existing 

 living thing, similar to itself in organization; whilst 

 Heterogema ^2ls the class-name for processes by which 



from the matter of pre-existing 



Hvin 



things aris 



e 



organisms belonging to a totally different species 



