V. 

 SPONTANEOUS GENEKATION. 



That living beings have had a beginning on the 

 earth all scientists admit. As to when they began it 

 would be useless to inquire, but it was, without doubt, 

 at a time vastly remote. 



The authentic geological record of plants and 

 animals extends backward, perhaps, fifty million 

 years, and it cannot be claimed that the oldest known 

 fossils represent the first organisms that were created. 



We do not know from the geological record 

 "whether the plant and the animal appeared simultan- 

 eously, or whether the plant preceded the animal. 



It is believed by some geologists that the oldest 

 known fossil is the Eozoon canadense, and that this 

 is the skeleton of a very low, but not of the lowest, 

 form of animal life. The weight of opinion of the 

 latest authorities is, I think, that Eozoon is not a 

 fossil. If it represents an animal it is evident that 

 plants must have existed, as food, at the same time, 

 for it is well known that no animal can live exclusive- 

 ly on inorganic food. The presence of graphite in 

 the rocks in which Eozoon is found can be explained 

 by supposing that it was obtained from organic 

 matter. 



I make these remarks to show that we cannot look 



to the geological record to reveal the beginning of 



life. 



The only known method of producing a plant or 



animal is by means of one or more parent organisms. 



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