The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-04-12
For The dEgis Dc Intelligence,
A Remarkable Fern.

Strolling one day of the past autumn
along Deer Creek, in the vicinity of the
"Rocks," | was attracted by species of
fern, with which was not familiar Upon
examining it infinitely found to my sur
prise, and | must confess to my gratifica-
ton, written upon the stem and each leaf
of the fern, the word Biogenesis life from
life, and from nothing but life. And recol-
Letting that Sir William Thompson, Pres
ident of the British Association for the Adj
vancement of Science, in an address to the
Society, incidentally refers to the theory of
Biogenesis and its opposite theory Abioge-
nesis, spontaneous generation) sought
that address and found the following state
ment therein:
II am ready to adopt as an article of
scientific faith, true through all space and
through all time, that life proceeds from
life, and from nothing but life" am not
aware that Sir William had ever seen
specimen Of the singular Deer Creek fern,
or ever heard of it; but one cannot fail to
note the agreement between the teaching
of the fern and that of the distinguished
President of the British Association
Anxious to know what that other distin-
gushed member of the same Association,
Prof Huxley, might have to say upon
Biogenesis and its antagonistic theory,
Abiogenesis, turned to an inaugural adj
dress delivered by him to the British Asso.
citation, in which Prof Huxley comedies
that "the evidence, direct and indirect, in
favor of Biogenesis: life from life. and from
nothing but life, for all knoaon forms of life,
must be admitted to be of great weight"
This utterance of the great nductive
philosopher gave me great pleasure, as it
seems to confirm the suspicion that posi-
bly, the Creator of all things wrote upon
my fern the word Biogenesis: life from life
and from nothing but life. My satisfaction
with this declaration of the philosopher
would have been complete, had he not to
this just admission, rs | thought it to be,
added: "But though cannot express this
conviction of mine too strongly, I must
carefully guard myself against the SUPPOSE
tion that intend to suggest that no such
thing as Abiogenesis, spontaneous genera
tionD has ever taken place in the past, or
will take place in the future. If it were
given me to look beyond the abyss Of
geologically recorded time to the still more
remote period when the earth was passing
through physical and chemical conditions,
NHlCH IL Sdh NV iiipiC scc again tIdH d llHH
can recall his infancy, should erpect to be
a acitness of the euolution Of lioing protoplasm
from ualioing matter. was now in a
quandary. When doctors disagree who
shall decide2 And what estimate can
have of the veracity ofmy fern Singular
ly, the Philosopher whose just quoted utter
ance had tended to overthrow my cherished
theory of life, and brand as false the teach
ing of the fern comes, to my relief. The phil
osopher does not account for life without
metaphysical cause Hear him: 81, in
divldually, am no materialist, but, on the
contrary, believe materialism to involve
grave philosophical error" His material
ism is only trick of logic his faith is
that all life has transcendental, metaphys-
ical. cause. He vindicates the truthfulness
of my fern.
The question is, where did my fern get its
life? Who wrote upon its stem and leaves
Biogenesis2 My fern was sustained by
inorganic substances. From such substan-
ces it extracted the nutriment of its life by
chemistry peculiar to itself. But whence
its life. 1t cannot be that life is a pheno-
menon evolved from the forces of unliving