] 6 4 WHA T IS DAR WINISM f 



gulfs,, which Mr. Huxley's protoplasm is as 

 powerless to efface as any other material ex- 

 pedient that has ever been suggested." * This 

 gulf Mr. Darwin does not attempt to bridge 

 over. He admits that life owes its origin to 

 the act of the Creator. This, however, the 

 most prominent of the advocates of Darwinism 

 say, is giving up the whole controversy. If 

 you admit the intervention of creative power 

 at one point, you may as well admit it in any 

 other. If life owes its origin to creative 

 power, why not species ? If the stupendous 

 miracle of creation be admitted, there is no 

 show of reason for denying supernatural inter- 

 vention in the operations of nature. Most 

 Darwinians attempt to pass this gulf on the 

 imaginary bridge of spontaneous generation. 

 In other words, they say there is no gulf 

 there. The molecules of matter, in one com- 

 bination, may as well exhibit the phenomena 

 of life, as in other combinations, any other 

 kind of phenomena. The distinguished Sir 

 William Thomson cannot trust himself to that 



1 As Regards Protoplasm in Relation to Professor Huxley's 

 Essay on the Physical Basis of Life. . By Dr. James H. Stirling. 

 See, also, Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man, by L. 

 S. Beale ; also, The Mystery of Life in Reply to Dr. Gull's Attack 

 on the Theory of Vitality. By L. S. Beale, M. D., 1871. 



