The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-04-18
GheGttteui9
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.
The "Beglnnlngs of Life" Upon tho
GlObe..Thc Lowest Condition In
Which Vitality Can be Recognized.

Fifth ArtlclC-ShOwibg the probable origin {
lie, AID making further contrast betweo
thehypOthcsIs Of special creation and Of CyC
luliOnl
Editors Of the lnteliIGcurCr:
As to how organic existence first bega
upon this Garth, men Of science have no
yet entirely agreed. But among thos
who have given the subject the closes
attention; among those who have endeav
orcd to iortity theoretical opinions BY
the results Of experimental vGrilcation
the belief that life has arisen by "spon-
taneous generation" Is the belief tina
generally obtains.
EPoNTANEoUs GENERATION.
Mr.. Charles Darwin, having made NJ
special study ofthG matter, does not treaI
OF spontaneous generation In bis theory
OF biological evolution. Granted the OK
isteDCe Of organic mstter-supposing Ia
creation to have already occurred, his oh.
lCct is TO show in consequence Of what
laws, and what demonstrate properties
of organic matter, such conditions of or
ganC nature as we may now perceive
around US, must have been brought about,
This is perfectly legitimate proposition,
as every writer Is privileged TO define the
limits OF my subject he may choose TO
investigate. But there arc other men OF
science who have made careful observa.
tons, and have conducted numerous
elaborate and delicate experiments,
and who have succeeded in OBJ
tanning positive results. In 9th
CT words, they have produced
forms Of life from dead matter, without
the Intervention oil organic germs. Others
again In experimenting upon this subject
have Jailed TO bring about life, bu! this
being negative evidence only, and pos.
sbly arising from non-cxactness in com.
plying with the requisite conditions, does
not suffice to counter balance the pos
tive evidence already mentioned. 1t
must not be supposed however that any
beings" directly resulting from spon-
taneous generation would be of type
with sufficiently definite organization, 10
resemble what ordinary observers are &C.
customed to regard as lite This would
imply creation, and would be- directly at
variance with the law Of evolution. The
forms thus produced are very lowly in
deed, 80 very lowly that in many cases
they can scarcely be distinguished as in
stances Of life at all. Molecular comb.
nations, giving rise to units Of protop-
lasm far below the minimum UiSiJle stage
Of our most powerful microscope, would
represent those initial cOllocations BY
which alone living matter could come
into being-though the germs thus in
Initiated may aIterward appear as mi
nutcst visible specks growing into BAG.
terra VibronGs, or Torulae." Or as Prof
Tyndall puts it, compared with their
constituent clements, the smallest Vibri.
ones and Bacteria Of the microscopic
field are as behemoth and levialhan,
though the latter are often less than
100000 Of an inch in diameter"
THE CONTRARY ASSUMPTION UNsCIEN-
TIFIC.
1t should also be mentioned that those
scientists who oppose spontaneous genera
ton, oppose it Professionally. They do
not regard the evidence as having sufIl-
cient weight TO warrant Its unconditional
acceptance, and as in science 1t is q duty
to be skCpticul and to guard against hasly
generallz ItiOns, they may deem it pru-
dent 10 hold the matter in allegiance. Still
do not think that men Of science are
ever justified in asCribiDg 10 supernatural
causes results that may be explained by
natural causes. 1t is one Of the errors
which have ever been d bar 10 human
progress. When Keplcr discovered that
the planets revolved about the sun in
ellipses-gravtation being then I'M
known-he could think OF no natural
power capable of keeping them Ia their
orbits, So making his Ignorance in the
case play the part Of knowledge, he at
once concluded that they must be con-
trOlled by guardian angels or guiding
spirits, and this continued the prevailing
idea until the time Of Newton's discovery
oil the law oil gravity, when science dis
penSed with these celestial pilots.
SPONTANEOUS ORIGIN OF LIFE PROBABLE.
ut is plain that the first lie must have
been developed from non.living matter,
whatever methods the Creator may have
employed. Why may not the same meth.
DDS be acting to-day ? Some OF the oppo-
nents Of the theory here tall into an OBJ
vious error. They impute 10 it tenden-
Cies which 1t cannot have The question
to-day is, not whether lie arose by Di-
vine act, but, in what manner did it arise2
If it should be proved that living beings
may be produced by natural laws from
non.living matter, 1t will merely be shown
that they arose in accordance with the
universal design. That is, looking from
the standpoint OF belief in Deity, il
would be demonstrated that here, as
throughout all the domain OF Nature.
His work was done systematically,
through the medium Of law, and not in
an arbitrary, mechanical, dust moulding
manner. And no one can find anything
atheistic, or even materialistic, in such Il
view. Tho question is one OF visible or.
der rerSuS seeming disorder, the proba-
6ilities being in favor Of the former" l
can see no reason why We should need
lessly invoke an abnormal act OF Creative
Power, such as Is without the iaintest
parallel IN human experience, unless there
is no alternative but the invention Of some
such hypothesis,
The theory ofevolution does not require
creation al all in its ordinary sense, but II
holds that the operation Of natural causes
was amply adequate 10 bring into exis-
tenCe kind Of matter prescntiuga new
form OF complex relations, and displaying
the phenomena which we term Life"
DARwINHM AND MEN OF SCIENCE.
Assuming then that organic life in
a very simple torn Of existence, came
into being on this earth, numberless ages
ago, that point of biological inquiry
with which Mr.. Darwin Is so prominently
identified, has been reached, Upon the
doctrine Of the evolution Of plants and
animals from lower forms, by q slow pro,
cess OF modification, all men eminent as
botanists or biologists, are agreed. There
are minor points Of difference in opinion
among them, but npon all cardinal nrin-