GERMS NOT IDENTICAL. 



257 



idea that there being light in the planets, any inhabitants 

 of these orbs may be presumed to have eyes, as eyes bear 

 a relation to light, is met by him very gravely with the 

 tact, left for him to discover, that animals have eyes be- 

 fore they are born ! 



I have now reviewed the vestiges of creation, presented 

 in both the geological and physiological records, the for- 

 mer presenting memorials of the actual progression of 

 species, in nearly such a conformity with the general ar- 

 rangements of the organic kingdoms as we might expect 

 in the present state of the science, and the latter afford- 

 ing us proofs — proofs, at least, satisfactory to many of the 

 best anatomists of our age — of a plan of individual devel- 

 opment, which may be called the living picture of the 

 advance of species during the vast ages chronicled by 

 the sedimentary rocks. A third series of vestiges now 

 remains for consideration — namely, those which hint at 

 originations and modifications of organic beings in the 

 current era. 



The objections to the occasional production of organic 

 beings, otherwise than ex ovo, do not appear to have been 

 softened by the publication of my former volume. All 

 reviewers, with the single exception of the British and 

 Foreign Medical Review, have intimated their continued 

 skepticism on this point. The experiment of Professor 

 Shulze, of Berlin, with decaying organic matter floating 

 in a flask to which common air was admitted, after pass- 

 ing through sulphuric acid, thereby being deprived of all 

 animal admixtures — an experiment which ended in the 

 non-production of any animalcules or mould — is pointed 

 to as conclusive. Explanations more or less plausible 

 have also been offered for the origin of the entozoa, the 

 parasites of civilization, the pimelodes cyclopum, &c. I 

 should fear to weary the reader with a new discussion of 

 all these particulars : for the sake of brevity, let me meet 

 the call which the opponents of the development theory 

 usually make, to give it the direct proof which would be 

 afforded by showing one instance, either of the origin of 

 tife or the transmutation of species. 



The objection of the Edinburgh reviewer to the alleged 

 transmutation of oats into rye, is that he believes it a 

 fable. This is the opinion of one person, advanced with- 

 out fact or argument to support it. Let us see, on the 

 other hand, what a greater authority on botanical subjects 



