Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-09-18
living ma tter-4beferae evolved out 9f
nonhving ndttet,-fife became e5tabl

nc nonlisfna nittefTli life beam e5,.aSs
lished.
rs there any 70 q reason to con-
clude that atsa he previous period OF
its history Cur earth was more favor
8 y circumstanced for the production
81 life than it is now? | have vainly
sought for such reason, and if none
be forthcoming the conclusion forces
itself upon us that the evolution OF
non-living into living substances has
happened more than once, and we
can be by no means sure that it may
not be happening still.
"It is true that up to the present
there is no evidence of such happen
inc; no process of transition has .hith-
erto been observed. But, on the other
hand, is it not equally true that the
kind of evidence which would be of
amy real value in determining this
question has not hitherto been looked
for? We may be certain that ii life
is being produced from non-living sub
stances it will be life of far simpler
character than any which has yet been
observed in material which we Shall
be uncertain whether to call animate
or inanimate, even if we are able to
detect it at all, and which we may
not be able to visualize physically
even after we have become convinced
of It's existence.
But we can look with the minds
eye and follow in imagination the
Transformation which non-living mat
tel may have undergone, and may still
be undergoing, to produce living sub.
stances Well may we ask ourselves
why the production of living matter
alone should be subject to other
laws than those which have produced
AMI are still producing the various
forms of non-living matter, why what
mas happened may not happen. and We
are justified in accepting the eonelu-
Sion that its evolution is possible in
the present and in the future.
Indeed, we are not only justified in
accepting this combustion we are
forced to accept it. When or where
such change from living tc living
matter may have first occurred, when
or where it may have continued, when
or where it may still be occurring, are
problems as difficult as they are in
teresting, but We have no right to as
sumo that they are insoluble.
Since living matter always contains
water as its most abundant constitu-
eat, and since the first living organism
recognizable as such in the ge9Iegl
ical series Were aquatic, ii has gem
eia,ly been assumed that life must
first have made its appearance in the
depths of the ocean. Is IL. however.
certain that the assumption that life
originated in the sea is correct? Is
not fherland surface Of our globe quite
rs likely to have been the indus for
tie evolutionary transformation of
nels-liy1ng into living material as the
waters Which surround il? Within
this soil almost any chemical trans
formation may occur: il is subjected
much more than matters dissolved ir
sea water TO those fluctuations of
moisture. temperature, electricity and
luminosity which are potent in pro-
dueing chemical changes. But whether
life in the form of a simple Shiny
coltoid, originated in the depths of the
sea or on the surface of the land. il
would be equally impossible for the
geologist to trace its beginnings. and
were it still becoming evolved in the
same situations, it would be almost as
impossible for the microscopic to fol-
low it's evolution. We are therefore
not likely to obtain direct evidence re-
garding such 4 transformation of non
living into. living matter in nature.
even if it isaaH occurring under our
eyes" - r.