The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-01-04
The Origin orLiic.

From the Scientific Americana
Whether the line OF experimental in
vestigation adopted by Bastian and other
students of spontaneous generation will
ever lead TO convincing demonstration
of the origin OF life DC noro is very doubt.
full. However fine the apparatus EN-
ployed, however cxacting the precautions
ngainst the slipping in Of germs from
without or their escape from destruction
within, the ingenuity OF the opponents Of
the theory will always be able to discover
Il possible broken link in the chain OF
evidence.
Like many another point OF scientific
controversy, this, We suspect, will be
llanked rather than carried by direct as
sault. AS in the case OF magic and witch
crait-belicf in which died n natural
death in the midst OF intelligent people,
superseded by more rational views Of
man and nature, but never logically de-
moIished-so, we arc inclined to think,
the mystery Of life's beginning will UNDER
go natural solution.
Those who hold to the dogma Of mo
life without antecedent life" are COM
PEELED TO assume, at some point in the
history OF the universe, the occurrence Of
nothing less than mirNcle-that is to
say phenomenon unknown to science
md logically indispensable from truly
scientific point OF view.
Life must have begun somewhere, once
ut least. It was not a natural product
Of material conditions, its beginning must
have marked n positive breach in that
casual connection Ofevents without which
Science would DO impossible. The weight
Of all experience is against assumption Of
such IA breach Of continuity in other
words against miraculous origin Of life.
On the other hand the weight Of expert
cnce is equally against the assumption Of
material condition absolutely unique in
character. II life arose once in conse-
0uence Of material conditions, Science
affords no justification for the assertion
that such conditions may not be repeated,
possibly in our laboratories.
This is substantially the position taken
BY Mr.. Proctor in the latest expression OF
his views, and by Professor Tyndall in
his latest discussion OF matter and life;
and such appears to be the growing con-
yiction Of those of the present generation
of scientists most pervaded by the spirit
OF scientific progress. Says Professor ryn-
dali: "The conclusion OF science, which
recognizes unbrOken casual connection
between the past and the present, would
undoubtedly be that the molten earth
contained within it elements Of life which
grouped themselves into their present
forms as the planet cooled" The context
shows that by elements Of life" Professor
Tyndall does not mean entities, but posi-
bilities, Of molecular condition by which
the phenomena Of life was to be evolved
in the natural course Of events, not by the
miraculous addition OF new force, but
by means of the force already in play.
"The difficulty and reluctance encoun-
tered by this conception" he continues,
"arise solely from the fact that the theo.
logical conception obtaincd'a prior foot.
ing in the human mind. Did the latter
depend on reasoning alone, it could not
hold its ground for an hour against its
rival. - We're not mans origin i'm
plicated, We should accept without
murmur the derivation OF animal and
vegetable life from what We call inor.
ganic nature. The conclusion Of pure
intellect points this way and no other"
Admitting tho natural origin Of life,
the question arises, When did life begin !
One branch Of the evolution school de.
lights to trace the existing forms OF life
back TO some primorlial germ, through
changing conditions, the tendency OF liv.
ing things TO vary from generation 10
generation, the survival Of the iittest, ETC.,
the one has become many. But there is
from this point Of view no satisfactory
accounting foEtlle persistence of so many
primitive FORMS or for the present pre-.
ponderance, OF undeyeloped forms. Nor
Il there hny sufficient reason given for
assuming that life began once, and once
only, in the distant past.
A more logical position ia occupied by
those who favor the, hypothesis that ma
tcrial conditions under which life origi-
mates are common conditions; consequent.
~ that the low forms Of life which swarm
in the waters Of to-day are low because
Of their recentness. Ifthey resemble long
past fossil forms, they do from some ma.
tural law Of evolution, rather than in
consequence oidircct descent. From this
point Of view there may be no clearer
kinship between humanity and existing
brutes than arise from n common relR-
tionship 10 Mother Earth. Man may 10 n
cousin TO the ape; but that does not neces.
sarily follow from the theory Of evolu.
ton, as the Science Of the future will re-
gard Il,