Picture - Cosmic Polymath

THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLD i8i
The theory of spontaneous generation of life de novo (a) has been proved to be untenable by direct experiments
frequently repeated.
The theory that matter—all matter—is in some simple sense alive (b) makes demands on the imagination which
the theory does not satisfy. " Looking upon the atom as the essential thing in the vmiverse, the various motions
of the atom are by this school supposed to be accompanied by a species of consciousness inconceivably simple.
Under certain circumstances this eternal and immortal consciousness is supposed to be consistent with that which
we call the life of the individual, while under other circumstances these two lives are not consistent with one
another. The individual then dies, but nevertheless the simple, immortal lives of the atoms which compose his
body remain attached to them as truly as before." ^
The addition of life to matter by a separate act of creation (c) is the theory generally accepted, and most
probably the correct one.
The hfe-transmission hypothesis (d) has been advocated by two of the ablest physicists of modern times, namely
Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Professor Helmholtz. Curiously enough, these celebrated savants arrived
at practically similar conclusions independently and at nearly the same time. If, however, it be granted that
the life of our planet has been derived from other planets, tJie problem of life is not thereby solved : the question then
is, Whence came the Ufe which exists in the transmitting planet or planets 1
Lord Kelvin attempted to explain the origin of the material universe by the vortex-ring hypothesis, and
gravitation by a modification of the hypothesis of ultra-mundane corpuscles. He affirms " that atoms are vortex-
rings generated out of a perfect fluid filling all space," and supposes " that the ultra-mundane corpuscles are
only a finer form of vortices." His behef that the life of our globe was transmitted from other planets by
meteors is, in a certain sense, in accordance with the principles of continuity. It is, however, at best only a
partial explanation. Helmholtz states his case as under : " If failure attends all our efforts to obtain a generation
of organisms fi'om lifeless matter, it seems to me a thoroughly correct procedure to inquire whether there has
ever been an origination of life, or whether it is not as old as matter, and whether its germs, borne from one
world to another, have not been developed wherever they have found a favourable soil." ^
Professor Stokes thus speaks of hfe : " Admitting to the full as highly probable, though not completely demon-
strated, the applicability to living beings of the laws which have been ascertained with reference to dead matter,
I felt constrained at the same time to admit the existence of a mysterious something lying beyond, a something
sui generis which I regard, not as balancing and suspending the ordinary physical laws, but as working with them
and through them to the attainment of a designed end. What this something which we call life may be is a pro-
found mystery. . . When
from the phenomena of life we pass on to those of mind, we enter a region still more
profoundly mysterious. We can readily imagine that we may here be dealing with phenomena altogether tran-
scending those of mere life, in some such way as those of life transcend, as I have endeavoured to infer, those of
chemistry and molecular attractions, or as the laws of chemical affinity in their turn transcend those of mere
mechanics. Science can be expected to do but little to aid us here, since the instrument of research is itself the
object of investigation. It can but enlighten us as to the depths of our ignorance, and lead us to look to a
higher aid for that which most nearly concerns our well-being." ^
Professors Stewart and Tait follow a similar line of argument. They say : " Life, whatever be its nature,
may be supposed to penetrate into the structural depths of the universe. Its seat is in a region inaccessible to
human inquiry, and equally inaccessible, we may well suppose, to the inquiries of the higher created intelligences.
Intimations of its presence are no doubt constantly emerging from this region of thick darkness into the objective
universe, but when they have reached it they obey the ordinary laws of phenomena, according to which a material
effect impUes a material antecedent. Notwithstanding all this, life exists just as surely as the Deity exists. . . .
We have driven the creative operation of the Great First Cause into the durational depths of the universe—into
the eternity of the past—but for all that we have not got rid of God. In like manner we have driven the mystery
of life into the structural depths of the universe—that region of thick darkness which no created eye is able to
' Professor 0. Lehmann, at a concourse of German physicians and physicists held at Stuttgart, endeavoured to prove that no liard and
fast line can be di-awn between the living and dead. He contended that crystals of nunierous substances showed all the characteristics of life as
revealed in certain of the lowest organisms that substances which crystallise do so in a specific form and resemble many plants ; that crystallisa-
;
tion requires a germ to start with ; that some crystals are capable of gi-owth, while others poison themselves by absorbing substances contained in
the medium investing them. He challenged the statement that living things are always fluid or partially so, and that crystals are invariably
solid. In support ofthis last proposition he maintained that liquid crystals can now be produced, and that as many as fifty varieties are already
known Those of soft soap afford a good example. Professor Lehmann directed attention to some remarkable crystallic forms occurring in
viscous' fluids which under the microscope, are seen to be in a state of constant motion others being found in clear fluids each ; drop of which consists
of a crystal a'third form resembling a bacterium where the crystals are linked together and occasionally exhibit spiral serpentine movements
These after a time are said to break up and re-form after the manner of bacteria. The views of Professor Lehmann have, of course, to be
subjected to the most severe criticism on the part of physicists and biologists before they can be accepted as forming even the basis of a working
hypoth^sia.^^^
January 14, 187o
' B"tisli Association Address at Exeter, 1869.