LIFE IN THE PAST 163 
explain the origin of life. It pushes back that origin 
a little farther or supposes that life is as old as matter 
itself. Again we may leave to the scientist the dis- 
cussion and the elaboration of this or any other theory 
he may promulgate concerning the origin of life. 
When he has established clearly the process and can 
produce life we will accept his explanation; mean- 
while, we will always be interested in his attempts to 
solve the problem, but still our simple formula, “in 
the beginning God,” serves our present needs and will 
satisfy us better than any as yet unverified hypothesis. 
When we find through scientific investigation how 
life arises we will simply know how God created it 
in the beginning. 
The next step in the understanding of early life is 
to study under the microscope the simplest forms 
which we can find in existence to-day. This, while 
far easier of execution than the problems which we 
have thus far considered, is still not without serious 
difficulties. But every day brings us nearer to the 
understanding of the structure of living things. Life 
the scientist cannot see. All he can study is living 
matter. Whether life can exist separate from living 
things is a problem outside the range of his, at least 
present, possibilities. Therefore, concerning it he has 
no answer whatever to give. But when we come to 
study living things we find that all life is associated 
