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Show 92 PARTICULAR CONSIDERATIONS O.N 'l'HE arnidst a system of things generally stable and a! rest Ar, there then anv such remnants to be traced In our OWlday, ~r during ·man's existence up~n earth.? If there b1·, it clearly would form a strong ev1denc~ 111 favor of the doctrine, as what now takes place upon a confined scale and in a comparatively casual manner, may have formerly taken place on a great scale, ~nd as the proper ~nd eternity-dQstined mean~ of supplywg a v.acant globe with suitable tenants. It will at the same tnne be observed that, the earth being now supplied with both kinds of tenants in great abundance, we only could expect to find the life-odccr inatinov- power at work in some very specia. l and extraonJ.inary circumstances, and probably only 1n the inferior and obseurer deparments of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Perhaps, if the question were asked of ten men of approved reputation in ~cience, nine out of the number would answer in the negative. This is beeause, in a grc::l.t numb.er of instances where the superfici.al. observ.ers of former t1mes assumed a n~m-g~nc_rrt t1 ve ortgin for J !fe, (as in the eelebrated case In V1rg1l's fourt.h Georgie,) either the direct contrary has been ascertained, or exhaustive experimer.tts have left .no a~ternati ve from th.e conclu~ion that ord1nary generatiOn did take place, albeit jn a manner which escap~s observation. Finding that an erroneous assumption has been formed in many cases, model'n inquirers have not hesitated to assume that there can be no case in which generation is not concerned; an assumption not only un.warran.tcd ~y, bu~ di~ectly oppose.d to, the principles of philosophical1nvesbgatwn. Y.et tlus is truly the point at vvhich the question now rests 111 the scientific world. I have no wish here to enter largely into a subject so wide and so full of difficulties; but I may remark, that the explanations usually suggested ·where life takes its rifJP. without apparent generative means, al~a;rs appe~r ~? me to partake much of the fallacy of the petltzo pn'!"czpn. \Vhen for instance lime is laid down upon a p1eee of 7'laste 'moss ground: and. a erop of white elover for wh~ch no s ~ eds were sown is the consequence, the explanatwn that the seeds have been dormant there for an unknown time, and were stimulated into germination when the lime produced the appropriate circumstances. appears extrein~ly unsatisfactory, ~specially when we know that (as 10 ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES. au authentic case under my notice) the spot is man) miles from where clover is cultivated, and that there is nothing for six feet below but pure peat moss, clover seeds being, moreover, known to be too heavy to be transported, as many other seeds are, by the winds. Mushrooms, we know, can be propagated by their seed; but another mode of raising them, well known to the gardener, is to mix cow and horse dung together, and thus form a bed in which they are expected to grow without any seed being planted. It is assumed that the seeds are carried by the atmosphere, unperceived by us, and, finding here an appropnate field for germination, germinate accordingly; but this is only assumption, and though designed to be on the side of a severe philosophy, in reality makes a pretty large demand on credulity. There are several persons eminent in scienee who profess at least to find great difficulties in accepting the doctrine of invariable generation. One of these, in the work noted below,* has stated several eonsiderations arising from analogical reasoning, which appear to him to throw the balance of eviilence in fav0r of the aboriginal production of infusoria, t the vegetation called mould, and the like. One seems to be of great force; namely, that the animaleules, which are supposed (altogether hypothetically) to be produced by ova, are afterwards found increasing their numbers, not by that mode at all, but by division of their bodies. If it be the nature of these creatures to propagate in this splitting or fiRsiparous manner, how could they be communicated to a veg~table infusion? Another fact of very high import. ance is presented in the following terms: " The natu!'e of the animalcule, or vegetable production, bears a constant relation to the state of the infusion, so that, in similar circumstanee!:;, the same are always produced without this being influenced by the atmosphere. There seems to be a certain progressive advance in the productive powers of the infu.s-ion, for at the first the animalcules are only of the smaller kinds, or monades, and afterwards they beCO'me gradually larger and 1nore cmnplicated in their rtrucnwe; after a time, the production cea.~es, although the mate,~ials are by no means exhausted. When the • Dr. Allen Thomson, in the article Gene,·ation, in Todd's Cy clopredia of Anatomy and Physiology. t The term aboriginal is here suggested, as more correct than 1pontaneous J th.e one hitherto generally used. · |