\ 



^p 



^//-^. 



TI/£ BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



113 



'^^^^ definite 



H\ 



ticir 



tend 



R 



fnciti 

 'nditions.' ^ 



•mental groo, 



of that substance, should resemble that which formed 

 under similar conditions twelve months or two years 

 previously. He who believes in the uniformity of 

 natural phenomena could anticipate no other result. 

 Living matter which is now produced de novo^ speedily 



^^^ in a simi 



the new-bon 



Thejf 



shapes itself into some well-known form ; and so also 



new crystalline matter which may have been produced 



\ synthetically by the chemist in his laboratory, falls 



habitually into one or other of the known crystalline 



J 



orm. 



systems. 



It seems^ again^ no more wonderful that the organism 

 because thisjE which develops de novo to-day should resemble another 

 larmoniousac which develops from the ^ spore' of a pre-existing 

 tactions as i organism^ than that a crystal which forms to-day in 

 lilar causes ^ir ^ saline solution should resemble another which is 



\ 



ir 



results. 



capable of arising by the growth of a portion detached 



t r /i "' ^^^"^ ^ similar pre-existing crystal. In all these cases, 



. 1 there is a similarity of product, because the crystalline 



;hat suchi;''' 



regarded as the 



>rms 



most % 



or organic form produced is to be 



physical expression of the harmonious actions which 



have led to their production — because the forms are 



'-born li\i"S the results of a physical necessity, and not of a mere 



icture 



3n 



to 



oi the I 

 thei^' 



blind chance 1. 



form 



its 



matte 



r, 



cason 





* And yet an objection has been gravely raised by an eminent biolo- 

 gist to receiving the conclusion which I was inclined to draw from some 

 of my experiments, on account of the extreme difficulty he experienced in 

 beUeving that the same simple Fungi could be produced from new-born 

 livmg matter as were known to be produced in other ways— that is, by 

 some of the methods of reproduction to which we have just been alluding. 

 If it be supposed that such organisms have been reproducing after this 



VOL. II. 



I 



