90 
The Presidential Address. 
great class or kingdom. I believe that animals are descended 
from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants from 
an equal or lesser number.” 32 Carrying on the argument 
by analogy, which, as he cautions us, “ may be a deceitful 
guide,” he then shows that there is no well-defined distinction 
between the lowest animals and the lowest plants. “ There¬ 
fore, on the principle of natural selection with divergence of 
character, it does not seem incredible that, from such low and 
intermediate forms, both animals and plants may have been 
developed; and, if we admit this, we must likewise admit 
that all the organic beings which have ever lived on this 
earth may be descended from some one primordial form. 
But this inference is chiefly grounded on analogy, and it is 
immaterial whether or not it be accepted.” 33 
If I may venture to push Darwin’s analogy still further, 
it appears to my mind that we can hardly stop even at the 
“primordial form.” If continuity is a great law of Nature 
we cannot logically admit of any break between the organic 
and the inorganic worlds, and although, as I wish most 
strongly to emphasise, there is no necessary connection 
between Darwin’s teachings and a belief in so-called 
“ spontaneous generation,” it seems to me that if we accept 
evolution in its broadest meaning we are compelled to admit, 
with Lamarck and Haeckel, that at former periods, or possibly 
even at the present time, the very lowest beginnings of life 
have been or are being evolved by the operation of natural 
causes. For fear of misrepresentation let me here add that 
there is at present not a vestige of scientific proo/countenacing 
such a belief. The reasoning of the consistent evolutionist 
in this matter is of precisely the same kind, only different in 
degree, as that which he employs when stating his belief that 
the gap between two widely divergent animals or plants, 
which at present appear isolated and distinct, is simply 
caused by the present imperfect state of palaeontological or 
embryological knowledge concerning them. 
Much as I could have wished to have given you some idea 
32 < Origin,’ 6th ed., p. 424. 38 Ibid., p. 425. 
