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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2923-h.zip b/2923-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9474c6b --- /dev/null +++ b/2923-h.zip diff --git a/2923-h/2923-h.htm b/2923-h/2923-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..602e9cc --- /dev/null +++ b/2923-h/2923-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1236 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Lecture to Working Men, No. 3 (of 6), THE ORIGINATION OF LIVING BEINGS by + Thomas H. Huxley + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Method By Which The Causes Of The +Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings, by Thomas H. Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Method By Which The Causes Of The Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings + Lecture III. (of VI.), Lectures To Working Men, at the + Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: "Origin + of Species". + +Author: Thomas H. Huxley + +Release Date: January 4, 2009 [EBook #2923] +Last Updated: January 22, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAUSES DISCOVERED *** + + + + +Produced by Amy E. Zelmer, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE METHOD BY WHICH THE CAUSES <br />OF THE PRESENT AND PAST CONDITIONS + <br />OF ORGANIC NATURE ARE TO BE DISCOVERED.<br /><br /> THE ORIGINATION OF + LIVING BEINGS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Lecture III. (of VI.), "Lectures To Working Men", at the Museum of + Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: "Origin of Species". + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas H. Huxley + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + In the two preceding lectures I have endeavoured to indicate to you the + extent of the subject-matter of the inquiry upon which we are engaged; and + now, having thus acquired some conception of the Past and Present + phenomena of Organic Nature, I must now turn to that which constitutes the + great problem which we have set before ourselves;—I mean, the + question of what knowledge we have of the causes of these phenomena of + organic nature, and how such knowledge is obtainable. + </p> + <p> + Here, on the threshold of the inquiry, an objection meets us. There are in + the world a number of extremely worthy, well-meaning persons, whose + judgments and opinions are entitled to the utmost respect on account of + their sincerity, who are of opinion that Vital Phenomena, and especially + all questions relating to the origin of vital phenomena, are questions + quite apart from the ordinary run of inquiry, and are, by their very + nature, placed out of our reach. They say that all these phenomena + originated miraculously, or in some way totally different from the + ordinary course of nature, and that therefore they conceive it to be + futile, not to say presumptuous, to attempt to inquire into them. + </p> + <p> + To such sincere and earnest persons, I would only say, that a question of + this kind is not to be shelved upon theoretical or speculative grounds. + You may remember the story of the Sophist who demonstrated to Diogenes in + the most complete and satisfactory manner that he could not walk; that, in + fact, all motion was an impossibility; and that Diogenes refuted him by + simply getting up and walking round his tub. So, in the same way, the man + of science replies to objections of this kind, by simply getting up and + walking onward, and showing what science has done and is doing—by + pointing to that immense mass of facts which have been ascertained and + systematized under the forms of the great doctrines of Morphology, of + Development, of Distribution, and the like. He sees an enormous mass of + facts and laws relating to organic beings, which stand on the same good + sound foundation as every other natural law; and therefore, with this mass + of facts and laws before us, therefore, seeing that, as far as organic + matters have hitherto been accessible and studied, they have shown + themselves capable of yielding to scientific investigation, we may accept + this as proof that order and law reign there as well as in the rest of + nature; and the man of science says nothing to objectors of this sort, but + supposes that we can and shall walk to a knowledge of the origin of + organic nature, in the same way that we have walked to a knowledge of the + laws and principles of the inorganic world. + </p> + <p> + But there are objectors who say the same from ignorance and ill-will. To + such I would reply that the objection comes ill from them, and that the + real presumption, I may almost say the real blasphemy, in this matter, is + in the attempt to limit that inquiry into the causes of phenomena which is + the source of all human blessings, and from which has sprung all human + prosperity and progress; for, after all, we can accomplish comparatively + little; the limited range of our own faculties bounds us on every side,—the + field of our powers of observation is small enough, and he who endeavours + to narrow the sphere of our inquiries is only pursuing a course that is + likely to produce the greatest harm to his fellow-men. + </p> + <p> + But now, assuming, as we all do, I hope, that these phenomena are properly + accessible to inquiry, and setting out upon our search into the causes of + the phenomena of organic nature, or, at any rate, setting out to discover + how much we at present know upon these abstruse matters, the question + arises as to what is to be our course of proceeding, and what method we + must lay down for our guidance. I reply to that question, that our method + must be exactly the same as that which is pursued in any other scientific + inquiry, the method of scientific investigation being the same for all + orders of facts and phenomena whatsoever. + </p> + <p> + I must dwell a little on this point, for I wish you to leave this room + with a very clear conviction that scientific investigation is not, as many + people seem to suppose, some kind of modern black art. I say that you + might easily gather this impression from the manner in which many persons + speak of scientific inquiry, or talk about inductive and deductive + philosophy, or the principles of the "Baconian philosophy." I do protest + that, of the vast number of cants in this world, there are none, to my + mind, so contemptible as the pseudoscientific cant which is talked about + the "Baconian philosophy." + </p> + <p> + To hear people talk about the great Chancellor—and a very great man + he certainly was,—you would think that it was he who had invented + science, and that there was no such thing as sound reasoning before the + time of Queen Elizabeth. Of course you say, that cannot possibly be true; + you perceive, on a moment's reflection, that such an idea is absurdly + wrong, and yet, so firmly rooted is this sort of impression,—I + cannot call it an idea, or conception,—the thing is too absurd to be + entertained,—but so completely does it exist at the bottom of most + men's minds, that this has been a matter of observation with me for many + years past. There are many men who, though knowing absolutely nothing of + the subject with which they may be dealing, wish, nevertheless, to damage + the author of some view with which they think fit to disagree. What they + do, then, is not to go and learn something about the subject, which one + would naturally think the best way of fairly dealing with it; but they + abuse the originator of the view they question, in a general manner, and + wind up by saying that, "After all, you know, the principles and method of + this author are totally opposed to the canons of the Baconian philosophy." + Then everybody applauds, as a matter of course, and agrees that it must be + so. But if you were to stop them all in the middle of their applause, you + would probably find that neither the speaker nor his applauders could tell + you how or in what way it was so; neither the one nor the other having the + slightest idea of what they mean when they speak of the "Baconian + philosophy." + </p> + <p> + You will understand, I hope, that I have not the slightest desire to join + in the outcry against either the morals, the intellect, or the great + genius of Lord Chancellor Bacon. He was undoubtedly a very great man, let + people say what they will of him; but notwithstanding all that he did for + philosophy, it would be entirely wrong to suppose that the methods of + modern scientific inquiry originated with him, or with his age; they + originated with the first man, whoever he was; and indeed existed long + before him, for many of the essential processes of reasoning are exerted + by the higher order of brutes as completely and effectively as by + ourselves. We see in many of the brute creation the exercise of one, at + least, of the same powers of reasoning as that which we ourselves employ. + </p> + <p> + The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of + the necessary mode of working of the human mind. It is simply the mode at + which all phenomena are reasoned about, rendered precise and exact. There + is no more difference, but there is just the same kind of difference, + between the mental operations of a man of science and those of an ordinary + person, as there is between the operations and methods of a baker or of a + butcher weighing out his goods in common scales, and the operations of a + chemist in performing a difficult and complex analysis by means of his + balance and finely-graduated weights. It is not that the action of the + scales in the one case, and the balance in the other, differ in the + principles of their construction or manner of working; but the beam of one + is set on an infinitely finer axis than the other, and of course turns by + the addition of a much smaller weight. + </p> + <p> + You will understand this better, perhaps, if I give you some familiar + example. You have all heard it repeated, I dare say, that men of science + work by means of Induction and Deduction, and that by the help of these + operations, they, in a sort of sense, wring from Nature certain other + things, which are called Natural Laws, and Causes, and that out of these, + by some cunning skill of their own, they build up Hypotheses and Theories. + And it is imagined by many, that the operations of the common mind can be + by no means compared with these processes, and that they have to be + acquired by a sort of special apprenticeship to the craft. To hear all + these large words, you would think that the mind of a man of science must + be constituted differently from that of his fellow men; but if you will + not be frightened by terms, you will discover that you are quite wrong, + and that all these terrible apparatus are being used by yourselves every + day and every hour of your lives. + </p> + <p> + There is a well-known incident in one of Moliere's plays, where the author + makes the hero express unbounded delight on being told that he had been + talking prose during the whole of his life. In the same way, I trust, that + you will take comfort, and be delighted with yourselves, on the discovery + that you have been acting on the principles of inductive and deductive + philosophy during the same period. Probably there is not one here who has + not in the course of the day had occasion to set in motion a complex train + of reasoning, of the very same kind, though differing of course in degree, + as that which a scientific man goes through in tracing the causes of + natural phenomena. + </p> + <p> + A very trivial circumstance will serve to exemplify this. Suppose you go + into a fruiterer's shop, wanting an apple,—you take up one, and, on + biting it, you find it is sour; you look at it, and see that it is hard + and green. You take up another one, and that too is hard, green, and sour. + The shopman offers you a third; but, before biting it, you examine it, and + find that it is hard and green, and you immediately say that you will not + have it, as it must be sour, like those that you have already tried. + </p> + <p> + Nothing can be more simple than that, you think; but if you will take the + trouble to analyze and trace out into its logical elements what has been + done by the mind, you will be greatly surprised. In the first place, you + have performed the operation of Induction. You found that, in two + experiences, hardness and greenness in apples go together with sourness. + It was so in the first case, and it was confirmed by the second. True, it + is a very small basis, but still it is enough to make an induction from; + you generalize the facts, and you expect to find sourness in apples where + you get hardness and greenness. You found upon that a general law, that + all hard and green apples are sour; and that, so far as it goes, is a + perfect induction. Well, having got your natural law in this way, when you + are offered another apple which you find is hard and green, you say, "All + hard and green apples are sour; this apple is hard and green, therefore + this apple is sour." That train of reasoning is what logicians call a + syllogism, and has all its various parts and terms,—its major + premiss, its minor premiss, and its conclusion. And, by the help of + further reasoning, which, if drawn out, would have to be exhibited in two + or three other syllogisms, you arrive at your final determination, "I will + not have that apple." So that, you see, you have, in the first place, + established a law by Induction, and upon that you have founded a + Deduction, and reasoned out the special conclusion of the particular case. + Well now, suppose, having got your law, that at some time afterwards, you + are discussing the qualities of apples with a friend: you will say to him, + "It is a very curious thing,—but I find that all hard and green + apples are sour!" Your friend says to you, "But how do you know that?" You + at once reply, "Oh, because I have tried it over and over again, and have + always found them to be so." Well, if we were talking science instead of + common sense, we should call that an Experimental Verification. And, if + still opposed, you go further, and say, "I have heard from the people in + Somersetshire and Devonshire, where a large number of apples are grown, + that they have observed the same thing. It is also found to be the case in + Normandy, and in North America. In short, I find it to be the universal + experience of mankind wherever attention has been directed to the + subject." Whereupon, your friend, unless he is a very unreasonable man, + agrees with you, and is convinced that you are quite right in the + conclusion you have drawn. He believes, although perhaps he does not know + he believes it, that the more extensive Verifications are,—that the + more frequently experiments have been made, and results of the same kind + arrived at,—that the more varied the conditions under which the same + results have been attained, the more certain is the ultimate conclusion, + and he disputes the question no further. He sees that the experiment has + been tried under all sorts of conditions, as to time, place, and people, + with the same result; and he says with you, therefore, that the law you + have laid down must be a good one, and he must believe it. + </p> + <p> + In science we do the same thing;—the philosopher exercises precisely + the same faculties, though in a much more delicate manner. In scientific + inquiry it becomes a matter of duty to expose a supposed law to every + possible kind of verification, and to take care, moreover, that this is + done intentionally, and not left to a mere accident, as in the case of the + apples. And in science, as in common life, our confidence in a law is in + exact proportion to the absence of variation in the result of our + experimental verifications. For instance, if you let go your grasp of an + article you may have in your hand, it will immediately fall to the ground. + That is a very common verification of one of the best established laws of + nature—that of gravitation. The method by which men of science + establish the existence of that law is exactly the same as that by which + we have established the trivial proposition about the sourness of hard and + green apples. But we believe it in such an extensive, thorough, and + unhesitating manner because the universal experience of mankind verifies + it, and we can verify it ourselves at any time; and that is the strongest + possible foundation on which any natural law can rest. + </p> + <p> + So much by way of proof that the method of establishing laws in science is + exactly the same as that pursued in common life. Let us now turn to + another matter (though really it is but another phase of the same + question), and that is, the method by which, from the relations of certain + phenomena, we prove that some stand in the position of causes towards the + others. + </p> + <p> + I want to put the case clearly before you, and I will therefore show you + what I mean by another familiar example. I will suppose that one of you, + on coming down in the morning to the parlour of your house, finds that a + tea-pot and some spoons which had been left in the room on the previous + evening are gone,—the window is open, and you observe the mark of a + dirty hand on the window-frame, and perhaps, in addition to that, you + notice the impress of a hob-nailed shoe on the gravel outside. All these + phenomena have struck your attention instantly, and before two minutes + have passed you say, "Oh, somebody has broken open the window, entered the + room, and run off with the spoons and the tea-pot!" That speech is out of + your mouth in a moment. And you will probably add, "I know there has; I am + quite sure of it!" You mean to say exactly what you know; but in reality + what you have said has been the expression of what is, in all essential + particulars, an Hypothesis. You do not 'know' it at all; it is nothing but + an hypothesis rapidly framed in your own mind! And it is an hypothesis + founded on a long train of inductions and deductions. + </p> + <p> + What are those inductions and deductions, and how have you got at this + hypothesis? You have observed, in the first place, that the window is + open; but by a train of reasoning involving many Inductions and + Deductions, you have probably arrived long before at the General Law—and + a very good one it is—that windows do not open of themselves; and + you therefore conclude that something has opened the window. A second + general law that you have arrived at in the same way is, that tea-pots and + spoons do not go out of a window spontaneously, and you are satisfied + that, as they are not now where you left them, they have been removed. In + the third place, you look at the marks on the window-sill, and the + shoemarks outside, and you say that in all previous experience the former + kind of mark has never been produced by anything else but the hand of a + human being; and the same experience shows that no other animal but man at + present wears shoes with hob-nails on them such as would produce the marks + in the gravel. I do not know, even if we could discover any of those + "missing links" that are talked about, that they would help us to any + other conclusion! At any rate the law which states our present experience + is strong enough for my present purpose.—You next reach the + conclusion, that as these kinds of marks have not been left by any other + animals than men, or are liable to be formed in any other way than by a + man's hand and shoe, the marks in question have been formed by a man in + that way. You have, further, a general law, founded on observation and + experience, and that, too, is, I am sorry to say, a very universal and + unimpeachable one,—that some men are thieves; and you assume at once + from all these premisses—and that is what constitutes your + hypothesis—that the man who made the marks outside and on the + window-sill, opened the window, got into the room, and stole your tea-pot + and spoons. You have now arrived at a 'Vera Causa';—you have assumed + a Cause which it is plain is competent to produce all the phenomena you + have observed. You can explain all these phenomena only by the hypothesis + of a thief. But that is a hypothetical conclusion, of the justice of which + you have no absolute proof at all; it is only rendered highly probable by + a series of inductive and deductive reasonings. + </p> + <p> + I suppose your first action, assuming that you are a man of ordinary + common sense, and that you have established this hypothesis to your own + satisfaction, will very likely be to go off for the police, and set them + on the track of the burglar, with the view to the recovery of your + property. But just as you are starting with this object, some person comes + in, and on learning what you are about, says, "My good friend, you are + going on a great deal too fast. How do you know that the man who really + made the marks took the spoons? It might have been a monkey that took + them, and the man may have merely looked in afterwards." You would + probably reply, "Well, that is all very well, but you see it is contrary + to all experience of the way tea-pots and spoons are abstracted; so that, + at any rate, your hypothesis is less probable than mine." While you are + talking the thing over in this way, another friend arrives, one of that + good kind of people that I was talking of a little while ago. And he might + say, "Oh, my dear sir, you are certainly going on a great deal too fast. + You are most presumptuous. You admit that all these occurrences took place + when you were fast asleep, at a time when you could not possibly have + known anything about what was taking place. How do you know that the laws + of Nature are not suspended during the night? It may be that there has + been some kind of supernatural interference in this case." In point of + fact, he declares that your hypothesis is one of which you cannot at all + demonstrate the truth, and that you are by no means sure that the laws of + Nature are the same when you are asleep as when you are awake. + </p> + <p> + Well, now, you cannot at the moment answer that kind of reasoning. You + feel that your worthy friend has you somewhat at a disadvantage. You will + feel perfectly convinced in your own mind, however, that you are quite + right, and you say to him, "My good friend, I can only be guided by the + natural probabilities of the case, and if you will be kind enough to stand + aside and permit me to pass, I will go and fetch the police." Well, we + will suppose that your journey is successful, and that by good luck you + meet with a policeman; that eventually the burglar is found with your + property on his person, and the marks correspond to his hand and to his + boots. Probably any jury would consider those facts a very good + experimental verification of your hypothesis, touching the cause of the + abnormal phenomena observed in your parlour, and would act accordingly. + </p> + <p> + Now, in this suppositious case, I have taken phenomena of a very common + kind, in order that you might see what are the different steps in an + ordinary process of reasoning, if you will only take the trouble to + analyse it carefully. All the operations I have described, you will see, + are involved in the mind of any man of sense in leading him to a + conclusion as to the course he should take in order to make good a robbery + and punish the offender. I say that you are led, in that case, to your + conclusion by exactly the same train of reasoning as that which a man of + science pursues when he is endeavouring to discover the origin and laws of + the most occult phenomena. The process is, and always must be, the same; + and precisely the same mode of reasoning was employed by Newton and + Laplace in their endeavours to discover and define the causes of the + movements of the heavenly bodies, as you, with your own common sense, + would employ to detect a burglar. The only difference is, that the nature + of the inquiry being more abstruse, every step has to be most carefully + watched, so that there may not be a single crack or flaw in your + hypothesis. A flaw or crack in many of the hypotheses of daily life may be + of little or no moment as affecting the general correctness of the + conclusions at which we may arrive; but, in a scientific inquiry, a + fallacy, great or small, is always of importance, and is sure to be + constantly productive of mischievous, if not fatal results. + </p> + <p> + Do not allow yourselves to be misled by the common notion that an + hypothesis is untrustworthy simply because it is an hypothesis. It is + often urged, in respect to some scientific conclusion, that, after all, it + is only an hypothesis. But what more have we to guide us in nine-tenths of + the most important affairs of daily life than hypotheses, and often very + ill-based ones? So that in science, where the evidence of an hypothesis is + subjected to the most rigid examination, we may rightly pursue the same + course. You may have hypotheses and hypotheses. A man may say, if he + likes, that the moon is made of green cheese: that is an hypothesis. But + another man, who has devoted a great deal of time and attention to the + subject, and availed himself of the most powerful telescopes and the + results of the observations of others, declares that in his opinion it is + probably composed of materials very similar to those of which our own + earth is made up: and that is also only an hypothesis. But I need not tell + you that there is an enormous difference in the value of the two + hypotheses. That one which is based on sound scientific knowledge is sure + to have a corresponding value; and that which is a mere hasty random guess + is likely to have but little value. Every great step in our progress in + discovering causes has been made in exactly the same way as that which I + have detailed to you. A person observing the occurrence of certain facts + and phenomena asks, naturally enough, what process, what kind of operation + known to occur in nature applied to the particular case, will unravel and + explain the mystery? Hence you have the scientific hypothesis; and its + value will be proportionate to the care and completeness with which its + basis had been tested and verified. It is in these matters as in the + commonest affairs of practical life: the guess of the fool will be folly, + while the guess of the wise man will contain wisdom. In all cases, you see + that the value of the result depends on the patience and faithfulness with + which the investigator applies to his hypothesis every possible kind of + verification. + </p> + <p> + I dare say I may have to return to this point by-and-by; but having dealt + thus far with our logical methods, I must now turn to something which, + perhaps, you may consider more interesting, or, at any rate, more + tangible. But in reality there are but few things that can be more + important for you to understand than the mental processes and the means by + which we obtain scientific conclusions and theories. <a href="#linknote-1" + name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> Having + granted that the inquiry is a proper one, and having determined on the + nature of the methods we are to pursue and which only can lead to success, + I must now turn to the consideration of our knowledge of the nature of the + processes which have resulted in the present condition of organic nature. + </p> + <p> + Here, let me say at once, lest some of you misunderstand me, that I have + extremely little to report. The question of how the present condition of + organic nature came about, resolves itself into two questions. The first + is: How has organic or living matter commenced its existence? And the + second is: How has it been perpetuated? On the second question I shall + have more to say hereafter. But on the first one, what I now have to say + will be for the most part of a negative character. + </p> + <p> + If you consider what kind of evidence we can have upon this matter, it + will resolve itself into two kinds. We may have historical evidence and we + may have experimental evidence. It is, for example, conceivable, that + inasmuch as the hardened mud which forms a considerable portion of the + thickness of the earth's crust contains faithful records of the past forms + of life, and inasmuch as these differ more and more as we go further down,—it + is possible and conceivable that we might come to some particular bed or + stratum which should contain the remains of those creatures with which + organic life began upon the earth. And if we did so, and if such forms of + organic life were preservable, we should have what I would call historical + evidence of the mode in which organic life began upon this planet. Many + persons will tell you, and indeed you will find it stated in many works on + geology, that this has been done, and that we really possess such a + record; there are some who imagine that the earliest forms of life of + which we have as yet discovered any record, are in truth the forms in + which animal life began upon the globe. The grounds on which they base + that supposition are these:—That if you go through the enormous + thickness of the earth's crust and get down to the older rocks, the higher + vertebrate animals—the quadrupeds, birds, and fishes—cease to + be found; beneath them you find only the invertebrate animals; and in the + deepest and lowest rocks those remains become scantier and scantier, not + in any very gradual progression, however, until, at length, in what are + supposed to be the oldest rocks, the animal remains which are found are + almost always confined to four forms—'Oldhamia', whose precise + nature is not known, whether plant or animal; 'Lingula', a kind of + mollusc; 'Trilobites', a crustacean animal, having the same essential plan + of construction, though differing in many details from a lobster or crab; + and Hymenocaris, which is also a crustacean. So that you have all the + 'Fauna' reduced, at this period, to four forms: one a kind of animal or + plant that we know nothing about, and three undoubted animals—two + crustaceans and one mollusc. + </p> + <p> + I think, considering the organization of these mollusca and crustacea, and + looking at their very complex nature, that it does indeed require a very + strong imagination to conceive that these were the first created of all + living things. And you must take into consideration the fact that we have + not the slightest proof that these which we call the oldest beds are + really so: I repeat, we have not the slightest proof of it. When you find + in some places that in an enormous thickness of rocks there are but very + scanty traces of life, or absolutely none at all; and that in other parts + of the world rocks of the very same formation are crowded with the records + of living forms, I think it is impossible to place any reliance on the + supposition, or to feel oneself justified in supposing that these are the + forms in which life first commenced. I have not time here to enter upon + the technical grounds upon which I am led to this conclusion,—that + could hardly be done properly in half a dozen lectures on that part alone;—I + must content myself with saying that I do not at all believe that these + are the oldest forms of life. + </p> + <p> + I turn to the experimental side to see what evidence we have there. To + enable us to say that we know anything about the experimental origination + of organization and life, the investigator ought to be able to take + inorganic matters, such as carbonic acid, ammonia, water, and salines, in + any sort of inorganic combination, and be able to build them up into + Protein matter, and that that Protein matter ought to begin to live in an + organic form. That, nobody has done as yet, and I suspect it will be a + long while before anybody does do it. But the thing is by no means so + impossible as it looks; for the researches of modern chemistry have shown + us—I won't say the road towards it, but, if I may so say, they have + shown the finger-post pointing to the road that may lead to it. + </p> + <p> + It is not many years ago—and you must recollect that Organic + Chemistry is a young science, not above a couple of generations old,—you + must not expect too much of it; it is not many years ago since it was said + to be perfectly impossible to fabricate any organic compound; that is to + say, any non-mineral compound which is to be found in an organized being. + It remained so for a very long period; but it is now a considerable number + of years since a distinguished foreign chemist contrived to fabricate + Urea, a substance of a very complex character, which forms one of the + waste products of animal structures. And of late years a number of other + compounds, such as Butyric Acid, and others, have been added to the list. + I need not tell you that chemistry is an enormous distance from the goal I + indicate; all I wish to point out to you is, that it is by no means safe + to say that that goal may not be reached one day. It may be that it is + impossible for us to produce the conditions requisite to the origination + of life; but we must speak modestly about the matter, and recollect that + Science has put her foot upon the bottom round of the ladder. Truly he + would be a bold man who would venture to predict where she will be fifty + years hence. + </p> + <p> + There is another inquiry which bears indirectly upon this question, and + upon which I must say a few words. You are all of you aware of the + phenomena of what is called spontaneous generation. Our forefathers, down + to the seventeenth century, or thereabouts, all imagined, in perfectly + good faith, that certain vegetable and animal forms gave birth, in the + process of their decomposition, to insect life. Thus, if you put a piece + of meat in the sun, and allowed it to putrefy, they conceived that the + grubs which soon began to appear were the result of the action of a power + of spontaneous generation which the meat contained. And they could give + you receipts for making various animal and vegetable preparations which + would produce particular kinds of animals. A very distinguished Italian + naturalist, named Redi, took up the question, at a time when everybody + believed in it; among others our own great Harvey, the discoverer of the + circulation of the blood. You will constantly find his name quoted, + however, as an opponent of the doctrine of spontaneous generation; but the + fact is, and you will see it if you will take the trouble to look into his + works, Harvey believed it as profoundly as any man of his time; but he + happened to enunciate a very curious proposition—that every living + thing came from an 'egg'; he did not mean to use the word in the sense in + which we now employ it, he only meant to say that every living thing + originated in a little rounded particle of organized substance; and it is + from this circumstance, probably, that the notion of Harvey having opposed + the doctrine originated. Then came Redi, and he proceeded to upset the + doctrine in a very simple manner. He merely covered the piece of meat with + some very fine gauze, and then he exposed it to the same conditions. The + result of this was that no grubs or insects were produced; he proved that + the grubs originated from the insects who came and deposited their eggs in + the meat, and that they were hatched by the heat of the sun. By this kind + of inquiry he thoroughly upset the doctrine of spontaneous generation, for + his time at least. + </p> + <p> + Then came the discovery and application of the microscope to scientific + inquiries, which showed to naturalists that besides the organisms which + they already knew as living beings and plants, there were an immense + number of minute things which could be obtained apparently almost at will + from decaying vegetable and animal forms. Thus, if you took some ordinary + black pepper or some hay, and steeped it in water, you would find in the + course of a few days that the water had become impregnated with an immense + number of animalcules swimming about in all directions. From facts of this + kind naturalists were led to revive the theory of spontaneous generation. + They were headed here by an English naturalist,—Needham,—and + afterwards in France by the learned Buffon. They said that these things + were absolutely begotten in the water of the decaying substances out of + which the infusion was made. It did not matter whether you took animal or + vegetable matter, you had only to steep it in water and expose it, and you + would soon have plenty of animalcules. They made an hypothesis about this + which was a very fair one. They said, this matter of the animal world, or + of the higher plants, appears to be dead, but in reality it has a sort of + dim life about it, which, if it is placed under fair conditions, will + cause it to break up into the forms of these little animalcules, and they + will go through their lives in the same way as the animal or plant of + which they once formed a part. + </p> + <p> + The question now became very hotly debated. Spallanzani, an Italian + naturalist, took up opposite views to those of Needham and Buffon, and by + means of certain experiments he showed that it was quite possible to stop + the process by boiling the water, and closing the vessel in which it was + contained. "Oh!" said his opponents; "but what do you know you may be + doing when you heat the air over the water in this way? You may be + destroying some property of the air requisite for the spontaneous + generation of the animalcules." + </p> + <p> + However, Spallanzani's views were supposed to be upon the right side, and + those of the others fell into discredit; although the fact was that + Spallanzani had not made good his views. Well, then, the subject continued + to be revived from time to time, and experiments were made by several + persons; but these experiments were not altogether satisfactory. It was + found that if you put an infusion in which animalcules would appear if it + were exposed to the air into a vessel and boiled it, and then sealed up + the mouth of the vessel, so that no air, save such as had been heated to + 212 degrees, could reach its contents, that then no animalcules would be + found; but if you took the same vessel and exposed the infusion to the + air, then you would get animalcules. Furthermore, it was found that if you + connected the mouth of the vessel with a red-hot tube in such a way that + the air would have to pass through the tube before reaching the infusion, + that then you would get no animalcules. Yet another thing was noticed: if + you took two flasks containing the same kind of infusion, and left one + entirely exposed to the air, and in the mouth of the other placed a ball + of cotton wool, so that the air would have to filter itself through it + before reaching the infusion, that then, although you might have plenty of + animalcules in the first flask, you would certainly obtain none from the + second. + </p> + <p> + These experiments, you see, all tended towards one conclusion—that + the infusoria were developed from little minute spores or eggs which were + constantly floating in the atmosphere, which lose their power of + germination if subjected to heat. But one observer now made another + experiment which seemed to go entirely the other way, and puzzled him + altogether. He took some of this boiled infusion that I have been speaking + of, and by the use of a mercurial bath—a kind of trough used in + laboratories—he deftly inverted a vessel containing the infusion + into the mercury, so that the latter reached a little beyond the level of + the mouth of the 'inverted' vessel. You see that he thus had a quantity of + the infusion shut off from any possible communication with the outer air + by being inverted upon a bed of mercury. + </p> + <p> + He then prepared some pure oxygen and nitrogen gases, and passed them by + means of a tube going from the outside of the vessel, up through the + mercury into the infusion; so that he thus had it exposed to a perfectly + pure atmosphere of the same constituents as the external air. Of course, + he expected he would get no infusorial animalcules at all in that + infusion; but, to his great dismay and discomfiture, he found he almost + always did get them. + </p> + <p> + Furthermore, it has been found that experiments made in the manner + described above answer well with most infusions; but that if you fill the + vessel with boiled milk, and then stop the neck with cotton-wool, you + 'will' have infusoria. So that you see there were two experiments that + brought you to one kind of conclusion, and three to another; which was a + most unsatisfactory state of things to arrive at in a scientific inquiry. + </p> + <p> + Some few years after this, the question began to be very hotly discussed + in France. There was M. Pouchet, a professor at Rouen, a very learned man, + but certainly not a very rigid experimentalist. He published a number of + experiments of his own, some of which were very ingenious, to show that if + you went to work in a proper way, there was a truth in the doctrine of + spontaneous generation. Well, it was one of the most fortunate things in + the world that M. Pouchet took up this question, because it induced a + distinguished French chemist, M. Pasteur, to take up the question on the + other side; and he has certainly worked it out in the most perfect manner. + I am glad to say, too, that he has published his researches in time to + enable me to give you an account of them. He verified all the experiments + which I have just mentioned to you—and then finding those + extraordinary anomalies, as in the case of the mercury bath and the milk, + he set himself to work to discover their nature. In the case of milk he + found it to be a question of temperature. Milk in a fresh state is + slightly alkaline; and it is a very curious circumstance, but this very + slight degree of alkalinity seems to have the effect of preserving the + organisms which fall into it from the air from being destroyed at a + temperature of 212 degrees, which is the boiling point. But if you raise + the temperature 10 degrees when you boil it, the milk behaves like + everything else; and if the air with which it comes in contact, after + being boiled at this temperature, is passed through a red-hot tube, you + will not get a trace of organisms. + </p> + <p> + He then turned his attention to the mercury bath, and found on examination + that the surface of the mercury was almost always covered with a very fine + dust. He found that even the mercury itself was positively full of organic + matters; that from being constantly exposed to the air, it had collected + an immense number of these infusorial organisms from the air. Well, under + these circumstances he felt that the case was quite clear, and that the + mercury was not what it had appeared to M. Schwann to be,—a bar to + the admission of these organisms; but that, in reality, it acted as a + reservoir from which the infusion was immediately supplied with the large + quantity that had so puzzled him. + </p> + <p> + But not content with explaining the experiments of others, M. Pasteur went + to work to satisfy himself completely. He said to himself: "If my view is + right, and if, in point of fact, all these appearances of spontaneous + generation are altogether due to the falling of minute germs suspended in + the atmosphere,—why, I ought not only to be able to show the germs, + but I ought to be able to catch and sow them, and produce the resulting + organisms." He, accordingly, constructed a very ingenious apparatus to + enable him to accomplish this trapping of this "germ dust" in the air. He + fixed in the window of his room a glass tube, in the centre of which he + had placed a ball of gun-cotton, which, as you all know, is ordinary + cotton-wool, which, from having been steeped in strong acid, is converted + into a substance of great explosive power. It is also soluble in alcohol + and ether. One end of the glass tube was, of course, open to the external + air; and at the other end of it he placed an aspirator, a contrivance for + causing a current of the external air to pass through the tube. He kept + this apparatus going for four-and-twenty hours, and then removed the + 'dusted' gun-cotton, and dissolved it in alcohol and ether. He then + allowed this to stand for a few hours, and the result was, that a very + fine dust was gradually deposited at the bottom of it. That dust, on being + transferred to the stage of a microscope, was found to contain an enormous + number of starch grains. You know that the materials of our food and the + greater portion of plants are composed of starch, and we are constantly + making use of it in a variety of ways, so that there is always a quantity + of it suspended in the air. It is these starch grains which form many of + those bright specks that we see dancing in a ray of light sometimes. But + besides these, M. Pasteur found also an immense number of other organic + substances such as spores of fungi, which had been floating about in the + air and had got caged in this way. + </p> + <p> + He went farther, and said to himself, "If these really are the things that + give rise to the appearance of spontaneous generation, I ought to be able + to take a ball of this 'dusted' gun-cotton and put it into one of my + vessels, containing that boiled infusion which has been kept away from the + air, and in which no infusoria are at present developed, and then, if I am + right, the introduction of this gun-cotton will give rise to organisms." + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, he took one of these vessels of infusion, which had been kept + eighteen months, without the least appearance of life, and by a most + ingenious contrivance, he managed to break it open and introduce such a + ball of gun-cotton, without allowing the infusion or the cotton ball to + come into contact with any air but that which had been subjected to a red + heat, and in twenty-four hours he had the satisfaction of finding all the + indications of what had been hitherto called spontaneous generation. He + had succeeded in catching the germs and developing organisms in the way he + had anticipated. + </p> + <p> + It now struck him that the truth of his conclusions might be demonstrated + without all the apparatus he had employed. To do this, he took some + decaying animal or vegetable substance, such as urine, which is an + extremely decomposable substance, or the juice of yeast, or perhaps some + other artificial preparation, and filled a vessel having a long tubular + neck with it. He then boiled the liquid and bent that long neck into an S + shape or zig-zag, leaving it open at the end. The infusion then gave no + trace of any appearance of spontaneous generation, however long it might + be left, as all the germs in the air were deposited in the beginning of + the bent neck. He then cut the tube close to the vessel, and allowed the + ordinary air to have free and direct access; and the result of that was + the appearance of organisms in it, as soon as the infusion had been + allowed to stand long enough to allow of the growth of those it received + from the air, which was about forty-eight hours. The result of M. + Pasteur's experiments proved, therefore, in the most conclusive manner, + that all the appearances of spontaneous generation arose from nothing more + than the deposition of the germs of organisms which were constantly + floating in the air. + </p> + <p> + To this conclusion, however, the objection was made, that if that were the + cause, then the air would contain such an enormous number of these germs, + that it would be a continual fog. But M. Pasteur replied that they are not + there in anything like the number we might suppose, and that an + exaggerated view has been held on that subject; he showed that the chances + of animal or vegetable life appearing in infusions, depend entirely on the + conditions under which they are exposed. If they are exposed to the + ordinary atmosphere around us, why, of course, you may have organisms + appearing early. But, on the other hand, if they are exposed to air from a + great height, or from some very quiet cellar, you will often not find a + single trace of life. + </p> + <p> + So that M. Pasteur arrived at last at the clear and definite result, that + all these appearances are like the case of the worms in the piece of meat, + which was refuted by Redi, simply germs carried by the air and deposited + in the liquids in which they afterwards appear. For my own part, I + conceive that, with the particulars of M. Pasteur's experiments before us, + we cannot fail to arrive at his conclusions; and that the doctrine of + spontaneous generation has received a final 'coup de grace'. + </p> + <p> + You, of course, understand that all this in no way interferes with the + 'possibility' of the fabrication of organic matters by the direct method + to which I have referred, remote as that possibility may be. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ Those who wish to study + fully the doctrines of which I have endeavoured to give some rough and + ready illustrations, must read Mr. John Stuart Mill's 'System of Logic'.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Method By Which The Causes Of The +Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings, by Thomas H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Method By Which The Causes Of The Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings + Lecture III. (of VI.), Lectures To Working Men, at the + Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: "Origin + of Species". + +Author: Thomas H. Huxley + +Posting Date: January 4, 2009 [EBook #2923] +Release Date: November, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAUSES DISCOVERED *** + + + + +Produced by Amy E. Zelmer + + + + + +THE METHOD BY WHICH THE CAUSES OF THE PRESENT AND PAST CONDITIONS OF +ORGANIC NATURE ARE TO BE DISCOVERED.--THE ORIGINATION OF LIVING BEINGS + +Lecture III. (of VI.), Lectures To Working Men, at the Museum of +Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: "Origin of Species". + + +By Thomas H. Huxley + + + +In the two preceding lectures I have endeavoured to indicate to you the +extent of the subject-matter of the inquiry upon which we are engaged; +and now, having thus acquired some conception of the Past and Present +phenomena of Organic Nature, I must now turn to that which constitutes +the great problem which we have set before ourselves;--I mean, the +question of what knowledge we have of the causes of these phenomena of +organic nature, and how such knowledge is obtainable. + +Here, on the threshold of the inquiry, an objection meets us. There are +in the world a number of extremely worthy, well-meaning persons, whose +judgments and opinions are entitled to the utmost respect on account of +their sincerity, who are of opinion that Vital Phenomena, and especially +all questions relating to the origin of vital phenomena, are questions +quite apart from the ordinary run of inquiry, and are, by their very +nature, placed out of our reach. They say that all these phenomena +originated miraculously, or in some way totally different from the +ordinary course of nature, and that therefore they conceive it to be +futile, not to say presumptuous, to attempt to inquire into them. + +To such sincere and earnest persons, I would only say, that a question +of this kind is not to be shelved upon theoretical or speculative +grounds. You may remember the story of the Sophist who demonstrated to +Diogenes in the most complete and satisfactory manner that he could not +walk; that, in fact, all motion was an impossibility; and that Diogenes +refuted him by simply getting up and walking round his tub. So, in the +same way, the man of science replies to objections of this kind, by +simply getting up and walking onward, and showing what science has done +and is doing--by pointing to that immense mass of facts which have been +ascertained and systematized under the forms of the great doctrines of +Morphology, of Development, of Distribution, and the like. He sees an +enormous mass of facts and laws relating to organic beings, which +stand on the same good sound foundation as every other natural law; and +therefore, with this mass of facts and laws before us, therefore, +seeing that, as far as organic matters have hitherto been accessible and +studied, they have shown themselves capable of yielding to scientific +investigation, we may accept this as proof that order and law reign +there as well as in the rest of nature; and the man of science says +nothing to objectors of this sort, but supposes that we can and shall +walk to a knowledge of the origin of organic nature, in the same way +that we have walked to a knowledge of the laws and principles of the +inorganic world. + +But there are objectors who say the same from ignorance and ill-will. To +such I would reply that the objection comes ill from them, and that the +real presumption, I may almost say the real blasphemy, in this matter, +is in the attempt to limit that inquiry into the causes of phenomena +which is the source of all human blessings, and from which has sprung +all human prosperity and progress; for, after all, we can accomplish +comparatively little; the limited range of our own faculties bounds us +on every side,--the field of our powers of observation is small enough, +and he who endeavours to narrow the sphere of our inquiries is only +pursuing a course that is likely to produce the greatest harm to his +fellow-men. + +But now, assuming, as we all do, I hope, that these phenomena are +properly accessible to inquiry, and setting out upon our search into the +causes of the phenomena of organic nature, or, at any rate, setting out +to discover how much we at present know upon these abstruse matters, the +question arises as to what is to be our course of proceeding, and what +method we must lay down for our guidance. I reply to that question, +that our method must be exactly the same as that which is pursued in any +other scientific inquiry, the method of scientific investigation being +the same for all orders of facts and phenomena whatsoever. + +I must dwell a little on this point, for I wish you to leave this room +with a very clear conviction that scientific investigation is not, as +many people seem to suppose, some kind of modern black art. I say that +you might easily gather this impression from the manner in which +many persons speak of scientific inquiry, or talk about inductive and +deductive philosophy, or the principles of the "Baconian philosophy." +I do protest that, of the vast number of cants in this world, there are +none, to my mind, so contemptible as the pseudoscientific cant which is +talked about the "Baconian philosophy." + +To hear people talk about the great Chancellor--and a very great man he +certainly was,--you would think that it was he who had invented science, +and that there was no such thing as sound reasoning before the time of +Queen Elizabeth. Of course you say, that cannot possibly be true; you +perceive, on a moment's reflection, that such an idea is absurdly wrong, +and yet, so firmly rooted is this sort of impression,--I cannot call it +an idea, or conception,--the thing is too absurd to be entertained,--but +so completely does it exist at the bottom of most men's minds, that this +has been a matter of observation with me for many years past. There +are many men who, though knowing absolutely nothing of the subject with +which they may be dealing, wish, nevertheless, to damage the author of +some view with which they think fit to disagree. What they do, then, +is not to go and learn something about the subject, which one would +naturally think the best way of fairly dealing with it; but they abuse +the originator of the view they question, in a general manner, and wind +up by saying that, "After all, you know, the principles and method +of this author are totally opposed to the canons of the Baconian +philosophy." Then everybody applauds, as a matter of course, and agrees +that it must be so. But if you were to stop them all in the middle of +their applause, you would probably find that neither the speaker nor his +applauders could tell you how or in what way it was so; neither the +one nor the other having the slightest idea of what they mean when they +speak of the "Baconian philosophy." + +You will understand, I hope, that I have not the slightest desire to +join in the outcry against either the morals, the intellect, or the +great genius of Lord Chancellor Bacon. He was undoubtedly a very great +man, let people say what they will of him; but notwithstanding all that +he did for philosophy, it would be entirely wrong to suppose that the +methods of modern scientific inquiry originated with him, or with his +age; they originated with the first man, whoever he was; and indeed +existed long before him, for many of the essential processes of +reasoning are exerted by the higher order of brutes as completely and +effectively as by ourselves. We see in many of the brute creation the +exercise of one, at least, of the same powers of reasoning as that which +we ourselves employ. + +The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of +the necessary mode of working of the human mind. It is simply the mode +at which all phenomena are reasoned about, rendered precise and +exact. There is no more difference, but there is just the same kind of +difference, between the mental operations of a man of science and those +of an ordinary person, as there is between the operations and methods of +a baker or of a butcher weighing out his goods in common scales, and the +operations of a chemist in performing a difficult and complex analysis +by means of his balance and finely-graduated weights. It is not that +the action of the scales in the one case, and the balance in the other, +differ in the principles of their construction or manner of working; but +the beam of one is set on an infinitely finer axis than the other, and +of course turns by the addition of a much smaller weight. + +You will understand this better, perhaps, if I give you some familiar +example. You have all heard it repeated, I dare say, that men of science +work by means of Induction and Deduction, and that by the help of these +operations, they, in a sort of sense, wring from Nature certain other +things, which are called Natural Laws, and Causes, and that out of +these, by some cunning skill of their own, they build up Hypotheses and +Theories. And it is imagined by many, that the operations of the common +mind can be by no means compared with these processes, and that they +have to be acquired by a sort of special apprenticeship to the craft. +To hear all these large words, you would think that the mind of a man of +science must be constituted differently from that of his fellow men; but +if you will not be frightened by terms, you will discover that you are +quite wrong, and that all these terrible apparatus are being used by +yourselves every day and every hour of your lives. + +There is a well-known incident in one of Moliere's plays, where the +author makes the hero express unbounded delight on being told that he +had been talking prose during the whole of his life. In the same way, I +trust, that you will take comfort, and be delighted with yourselves, on +the discovery that you have been acting on the principles of inductive +and deductive philosophy during the same period. Probably there is not +one here who has not in the course of the day had occasion to set in +motion a complex train of reasoning, of the very same kind, though +differing of course in degree, as that which a scientific man goes +through in tracing the causes of natural phenomena. + +A very trivial circumstance will serve to exemplify this. Suppose you +go into a fruiterer's shop, wanting an apple,--you take up one, and, on +biting it, you find it is sour; you look at it, and see that it is hard +and green. You take up another one, and that too is hard, green, and +sour. The shopman offers you a third; but, before biting it, you examine +it, and find that it is hard and green, and you immediately say that you +will not have it, as it must be sour, like those that you have already +tried. + +Nothing can be more simple than that, you think; but if you will take +the trouble to analyze and trace out into its logical elements what +has been done by the mind, you will be greatly surprised. In the first +place, you have performed the operation of Induction. You found that, +in two experiences, hardness and greenness in apples go together with +sourness. It was so in the first case, and it was confirmed by the +second. True, it is a very small basis, but still it is enough to make +an induction from; you generalize the facts, and you expect to find +sourness in apples where you get hardness and greenness. You found upon +that a general law, that all hard and green apples are sour; and that, +so far as it goes, is a perfect induction. Well, having got your natural +law in this way, when you are offered another apple which you find is +hard and green, you say, "All hard and green apples are sour; this +apple is hard and green, therefore this apple is sour." That train of +reasoning is what logicians call a syllogism, and has all its various +parts and terms,--its major premiss, its minor premiss, and its +conclusion. And, by the help of further reasoning, which, if drawn out, +would have to be exhibited in two or three other syllogisms, you arrive +at your final determination, "I will not have that apple." So that, you +see, you have, in the first place, established a law by Induction, and +upon that you have founded a Deduction, and reasoned out the special +conclusion of the particular case. Well now, suppose, having got your +law, that at some time afterwards, you are discussing the qualities +of apples with a friend: you will say to him, "It is a very curious +thing,--but I find that all hard and green apples are sour!" Your friend +says to you, "But how do you know that?" You at once reply, "Oh, because +I have tried it over and over again, and have always found them to be +so." Well, if we were talking science instead of common sense, we should +call that an Experimental Verification. And, if still opposed, you go +further, and say, "I have heard from the people in Somersetshire and +Devonshire, where a large number of apples are grown, that they have +observed the same thing. It is also found to be the case in Normandy, +and in North America. In short, I find it to be the universal experience +of mankind wherever attention has been directed to the subject." +Whereupon, your friend, unless he is a very unreasonable man, agrees +with you, and is convinced that you are quite right in the conclusion +you have drawn. He believes, although perhaps he does not know he +believes it, that the more extensive Verifications are,--that the more +frequently experiments have been made, and results of the same kind +arrived at,--that the more varied the conditions under which the same +results have been attained, the more certain is the ultimate conclusion, +and he disputes the question no further. He sees that the experiment has +been tried under all sorts of conditions, as to time, place, and people, +with the same result; and he says with you, therefore, that the law you +have laid down must be a good one, and he must believe it. + +In science we do the same thing;--the philosopher exercises precisely +the same faculties, though in a much more delicate manner. In scientific +inquiry it becomes a matter of duty to expose a supposed law to every +possible kind of verification, and to take care, moreover, that this is +done intentionally, and not left to a mere accident, as in the case of +the apples. And in science, as in common life, our confidence in a law +is in exact proportion to the absence of variation in the result of our +experimental verifications. For instance, if you let go your grasp of +an article you may have in your hand, it will immediately fall to +the ground. That is a very common verification of one of the best +established laws of nature--that of gravitation. The method by which men +of science establish the existence of that law is exactly the same as +that by which we have established the trivial proposition about +the sourness of hard and green apples. But we believe it in such an +extensive, thorough, and unhesitating manner because the universal +experience of mankind verifies it, and we can verify it ourselves at any +time; and that is the strongest possible foundation on which any natural +law can rest. + +So much by way of proof that the method of establishing laws in science +is exactly the same as that pursued in common life. Let us now turn +to another matter (though really it is but another phase of the same +question), and that is, the method by which, from the relations of +certain phenomena, we prove that some stand in the position of causes +towards the others. + +I want to put the case clearly before you, and I will therefore show you +what I mean by another familiar example. I will suppose that one of you, +on coming down in the morning to the parlour of your house, finds that a +tea-pot and some spoons which had been left in the room on the previous +evening are gone,--the window is open, and you observe the mark of a +dirty hand on the window-frame, and perhaps, in addition to that, you +notice the impress of a hob-nailed shoe on the gravel outside. All these +phenomena have struck your attention instantly, and before two minutes +have passed you say, "Oh, somebody has broken open the window, entered +the room, and run off with the spoons and the tea-pot!" That speech is +out of your mouth in a moment. And you will probably add, "I know there +has; I am quite sure of it!" You mean to say exactly what you know; but +in reality what you have said has been the expression of what is, in all +essential particulars, an Hypothesis. You do not 'know' it at all; it is +nothing but an hypothesis rapidly framed in your own mind! And it is an +hypothesis founded on a long train of inductions and deductions. + +What are those inductions and deductions, and how have you got at this +hypothesis? You have observed, in the first place, that the window +is open; but by a train of reasoning involving many Inductions and +Deductions, you have probably arrived long before at the General +Law--and a very good one it is--that windows do not open of themselves; +and you therefore conclude that something has opened the window. A +second general law that you have arrived at in the same way is, that +tea-pots and spoons do not go out of a window spontaneously, and you are +satisfied that, as they are not now where you left them, they have been +removed. In the third place, you look at the marks on the window-sill, +and the shoemarks outside, and you say that in all previous experience +the former kind of mark has never been produced by anything else but +the hand of a human being; and the same experience shows that no other +animal but man at present wears shoes with hob-nails on them such as +would produce the marks in the gravel. I do not know, even if we could +discover any of those "missing links" that are talked about, that they +would help us to any other conclusion! At any rate the law which states +our present experience is strong enough for my present purpose.--You +next reach the conclusion, that as these kinds of marks have not been +left by any other animals than men, or are liable to be formed in any +other way than by a man's hand and shoe, the marks in question have been +formed by a man in that way. You have, further, a general law, founded +on observation and experience, and that, too, is, I am sorry to say, a +very universal and unimpeachable one,--that some men are thieves; +and you assume at once from all these premisses--and that is what +constitutes your hypothesis--that the man who made the marks outside and +on the window-sill, opened the window, got into the room, and stole your +tea-pot and spoons. You have now arrived at a 'Vera Causa';--you have +assumed a Cause which it is plain is competent to produce all the +phenomena you have observed. You can explain all these phenomena only by +the hypothesis of a thief. But that is a hypothetical conclusion, of the +justice of which you have no absolute proof at all; it is only rendered +highly probable by a series of inductive and deductive reasonings. + +I suppose your first action, assuming that you are a man of ordinary +common sense, and that you have established this hypothesis to your own +satisfaction, will very likely be to go off for the police, and set +them on the track of the burglar, with the view to the recovery of your +property. But just as you are starting with this object, some person +comes in, and on learning what you are about, says, "My good friend, +you are going on a great deal too fast. How do you know that the man who +really made the marks took the spoons? It might have been a monkey that +took them, and the man may have merely looked in afterwards." You would +probably reply, "Well, that is all very well, but you see it is contrary +to all experience of the way tea-pots and spoons are abstracted; so +that, at any rate, your hypothesis is less probable than mine." While +you are talking the thing over in this way, another friend arrives, one +of that good kind of people that I was talking of a little while ago. +And he might say, "Oh, my dear sir, you are certainly going on a great +deal too fast. You are most presumptuous. You admit that all these +occurrences took place when you were fast asleep, at a time when you +could not possibly have known anything about what was taking place. How +do you know that the laws of Nature are not suspended during the night? +It may be that there has been some kind of supernatural interference in +this case." In point of fact, he declares that your hypothesis is one +of which you cannot at all demonstrate the truth, and that you are by no +means sure that the laws of Nature are the same when you are asleep as +when you are awake. + +Well, now, you cannot at the moment answer that kind of reasoning. You +feel that your worthy friend has you somewhat at a disadvantage. You +will feel perfectly convinced in your own mind, however, that you are +quite right, and you say to him, "My good friend, I can only be guided +by the natural probabilities of the case, and if you will be kind enough +to stand aside and permit me to pass, I will go and fetch the police." +Well, we will suppose that your journey is successful, and that by good +luck you meet with a policeman; that eventually the burglar is found +with your property on his person, and the marks correspond to his hand +and to his boots. Probably any jury would consider those facts a very +good experimental verification of your hypothesis, touching the cause +of the abnormal phenomena observed in your parlour, and would act +accordingly. + +Now, in this suppositious case, I have taken phenomena of a very common +kind, in order that you might see what are the different steps in an +ordinary process of reasoning, if you will only take the trouble to +analyse it carefully. All the operations I have described, you will +see, are involved in the mind of any man of sense in leading him to +a conclusion as to the course he should take in order to make good a +robbery and punish the offender. I say that you are led, in that case, +to your conclusion by exactly the same train of reasoning as that which +a man of science pursues when he is endeavouring to discover the origin +and laws of the most occult phenomena. The process is, and always must +be, the same; and precisely the same mode of reasoning was employed by +Newton and Laplace in their endeavours to discover and define the causes +of the movements of the heavenly bodies, as you, with your own common +sense, would employ to detect a burglar. The only difference is, that +the nature of the inquiry being more abstruse, every step has to be most +carefully watched, so that there may not be a single crack or flaw in +your hypothesis. A flaw or crack in many of the hypotheses of daily life +may be of little or no moment as affecting the general correctness of +the conclusions at which we may arrive; but, in a scientific inquiry, +a fallacy, great or small, is always of importance, and is sure to be +constantly productive of mischievous, if not fatal results. + +Do not allow yourselves to be misled by the common notion that an +hypothesis is untrustworthy simply because it is an hypothesis. It is +often urged, in respect to some scientific conclusion, that, after +all, it is only an hypothesis. But what more have we to guide us in +nine-tenths of the most important affairs of daily life than hypotheses, +and often very ill-based ones? So that in science, where the evidence of +an hypothesis is subjected to the most rigid examination, we may rightly +pursue the same course. You may have hypotheses and hypotheses. A man +may say, if he likes, that the moon is made of green cheese: that is an +hypothesis. But another man, who has devoted a great deal of time and +attention to the subject, and availed himself of the most powerful +telescopes and the results of the observations of others, declares that +in his opinion it is probably composed of materials very similar to +those of which our own earth is made up: and that is also only an +hypothesis. But I need not tell you that there is an enormous difference +in the value of the two hypotheses. That one which is based on sound +scientific knowledge is sure to have a corresponding value; and that +which is a mere hasty random guess is likely to have but little value. +Every great step in our progress in discovering causes has been made +in exactly the same way as that which I have detailed to you. A person +observing the occurrence of certain facts and phenomena asks, naturally +enough, what process, what kind of operation known to occur in nature +applied to the particular case, will unravel and explain the mystery? +Hence you have the scientific hypothesis; and its value will be +proportionate to the care and completeness with which its basis had been +tested and verified. It is in these matters as in the commonest affairs +of practical life: the guess of the fool will be folly, while the guess +of the wise man will contain wisdom. In all cases, you see that the +value of the result depends on the patience and faithfulness with +which the investigator applies to his hypothesis every possible kind of +verification. + +I dare say I may have to return to this point by-and-by; but having +dealt thus far with our logical methods, I must now turn to something +which, perhaps, you may consider more interesting, or, at any rate, +more tangible. But in reality there are but few things that can be more +important for you to understand than the mental processes and the means +by which we obtain scientific conclusions and theories. [1] Having +granted that the inquiry is a proper one, and having determined on +the nature of the methods we are to pursue and which only can lead to +success, I must now turn to the consideration of our knowledge of the +nature of the processes which have resulted in the present condition of +organic nature. + +Here, let me say at once, lest some of you misunderstand me, that I have +extremely little to report. The question of how the present condition of +organic nature came about, resolves itself into two questions. The first +is: How has organic or living matter commenced its existence? And the +second is: How has it been perpetuated? On the second question I shall +have more to say hereafter. But on the first one, what I now have to say +will be for the most part of a negative character. + +If you consider what kind of evidence we can have upon this matter, it +will resolve itself into two kinds. We may have historical evidence and +we may have experimental evidence. It is, for example, conceivable, that +inasmuch as the hardened mud which forms a considerable portion of the +thickness of the earth's crust contains faithful records of the past +forms of life, and inasmuch as these differ more and more as we go +further down,--it is possible and conceivable that we might come to +some particular bed or stratum which should contain the remains of those +creatures with which organic life began upon the earth. And if we did +so, and if such forms of organic life were preservable, we should have +what I would call historical evidence of the mode in which organic life +began upon this planet. Many persons will tell you, and indeed you will +find it stated in many works on geology, that this has been done, and +that we really possess such a record; there are some who imagine that +the earliest forms of life of which we have as yet discovered any +record, are in truth the forms in which animal life began upon the +globe. The grounds on which they base that supposition are these:--That +if you go through the enormous thickness of the earth's crust and get +down to the older rocks, the higher vertebrate animals--the quadrupeds, +birds, and fishes--cease to be found; beneath them you find only the +invertebrate animals; and in the deepest and lowest rocks those remains +become scantier and scantier, not in any very gradual progression, +however, until, at length, in what are supposed to be the oldest rocks, +the animal remains which are found are almost always confined to four +forms--'Oldhamia', whose precise nature is not known, whether plant or +animal; 'Lingula', a kind of mollusc; 'Trilobites', a crustacean animal, +having the same essential plan of construction, though differing in +many details from a lobster or crab; and Hymenocaris, which is also a +crustacean. So that you have all the 'Fauna' reduced, at this period, +to four forms: one a kind of animal or plant that we know nothing about, +and three undoubted animals--two crustaceans and one mollusc. + +I think, considering the organization of these mollusca and crustacea, +and looking at their very complex nature, that it does indeed require a +very strong imagination to conceive that these were the first created of +all living things. And you must take into consideration the fact that +we have not the slightest proof that these which we call the oldest beds +are really so: I repeat, we have not the slightest proof of it. When you +find in some places that in an enormous thickness of rocks there are but +very scanty traces of life, or absolutely none at all; and that in other +parts of the world rocks of the very same formation are crowded with the +records of living forms, I think it is impossible to place any reliance +on the supposition, or to feel oneself justified in supposing that these +are the forms in which life first commenced. I have not time here +to enter upon the technical grounds upon which I am led to this +conclusion,--that could hardly be done properly in half a dozen lectures +on that part alone;--I must content myself with saying that I do not at +all believe that these are the oldest forms of life. + +I turn to the experimental side to see what evidence we have there. +To enable us to say that we know anything about the experimental +origination of organization and life, the investigator ought to be able +to take inorganic matters, such as carbonic acid, ammonia, water, and +salines, in any sort of inorganic combination, and be able to build them +up into Protein matter, and that that Protein matter ought to begin to +live in an organic form. That, nobody has done as yet, and I suspect it +will be a long while before anybody does do it. But the thing is by no +means so impossible as it looks; for the researches of modern chemistry +have shown us--I won't say the road towards it, but, if I may so say, +they have shown the finger-post pointing to the road that may lead to +it. + +It is not many years ago--and you must recollect that Organic Chemistry +is a young science, not above a couple of generations old,--you must not +expect too much of it; it is not many years ago since it was said to be +perfectly impossible to fabricate any organic compound; that is to say, +any non-mineral compound which is to be found in an organized being. It +remained so for a very long period; but it is now a considerable number +of years since a distinguished foreign chemist contrived to fabricate +Urea, a substance of a very complex character, which forms one of the +waste products of animal structures. And of late years a number of other +compounds, such as Butyric Acid, and others, have been added to the +list. I need not tell you that chemistry is an enormous distance from +the goal I indicate; all I wish to point out to you is, that it is by no +means safe to say that that goal may not be reached one day. It may be +that it is impossible for us to produce the conditions requisite to the +origination of life; but we must speak modestly about the matter, and +recollect that Science has put her foot upon the bottom round of the +ladder. Truly he would be a bold man who would venture to predict where +she will be fifty years hence. + +There is another inquiry which bears indirectly upon this question, +and upon which I must say a few words. You are all of you aware of the +phenomena of what is called spontaneous generation. Our forefathers, +down to the seventeenth century, or thereabouts, all imagined, in +perfectly good faith, that certain vegetable and animal forms gave +birth, in the process of their decomposition, to insect life. Thus, +if you put a piece of meat in the sun, and allowed it to putrefy, they +conceived that the grubs which soon began to appear were the result +of the action of a power of spontaneous generation which the meat +contained. And they could give you receipts for making various animal +and vegetable preparations which would produce particular kinds of +animals. A very distinguished Italian naturalist, named Redi, took up +the question, at a time when everybody believed in it; among others our +own great Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. You +will constantly find his name quoted, however, as an opponent of the +doctrine of spontaneous generation; but the fact is, and you will see it +if you will take the trouble to look into his works, Harvey believed +it as profoundly as any man of his time; but he happened to enunciate a +very curious proposition--that every living thing came from an 'egg'; he +did not mean to use the word in the sense in which we now employ it, he +only meant to say that every living thing originated in a little rounded +particle of organized substance; and it is from this circumstance, +probably, that the notion of Harvey having opposed the doctrine +originated. Then came Redi, and he proceeded to upset the doctrine in a +very simple manner. He merely covered the piece of meat with some very +fine gauze, and then he exposed it to the same conditions. The result +of this was that no grubs or insects were produced; he proved that the +grubs originated from the insects who came and deposited their eggs in +the meat, and that they were hatched by the heat of the sun. By +this kind of inquiry he thoroughly upset the doctrine of spontaneous +generation, for his time at least. + +Then came the discovery and application of the microscope to scientific +inquiries, which showed to naturalists that besides the organisms which +they already knew as living beings and plants, there were an immense +number of minute things which could be obtained apparently almost at +will from decaying vegetable and animal forms. Thus, if you took some +ordinary black pepper or some hay, and steeped it in water, you would +find in the course of a few days that the water had become impregnated +with an immense number of animalcules swimming about in all directions. +From facts of this kind naturalists were led to revive the theory +of spontaneous generation. They were headed here by an English +naturalist,--Needham,--and afterwards in France by the learned Buffon. +They said that these things were absolutely begotten in the water of +the decaying substances out of which the infusion was made. It did not +matter whether you took animal or vegetable matter, you had only to +steep it in water and expose it, and you would soon have plenty of +animalcules. They made an hypothesis about this which was a very fair +one. They said, this matter of the animal world, or of the higher +plants, appears to be dead, but in reality it has a sort of dim life +about it, which, if it is placed under fair conditions, will cause it +to break up into the forms of these little animalcules, and they will go +through their lives in the same way as the animal or plant of which they +once formed a part. + +The question now became very hotly debated. Spallanzani, an Italian +naturalist, took up opposite views to those of Needham and Buffon, and +by means of certain experiments he showed that it was quite possible to +stop the process by boiling the water, and closing the vessel in which +it was contained. "Oh!" said his opponents; "but what do you know you +may be doing when you heat the air over the water in this way? You may +be destroying some property of the air requisite for the spontaneous +generation of the animalcules." + +However, Spallanzani's views were supposed to be upon the right side, +and those of the others fell into discredit; although the fact was +that Spallanzani had not made good his views. Well, then, the subject +continued to be revived from time to time, and experiments were made by +several persons; but these experiments were not altogether satisfactory. +It was found that if you put an infusion in which animalcules would +appear if it were exposed to the air into a vessel and boiled it, and +then sealed up the mouth of the vessel, so that no air, save such as +had been heated to 212 degrees, could reach its contents, that then no +animalcules would be found; but if you took the same vessel and exposed +the infusion to the air, then you would get animalcules. Furthermore, it +was found that if you connected the mouth of the vessel with a red-hot +tube in such a way that the air would have to pass through the tube +before reaching the infusion, that then you would get no animalcules. +Yet another thing was noticed: if you took two flasks containing the +same kind of infusion, and left one entirely exposed to the air, and +in the mouth of the other placed a ball of cotton wool, so that the air +would have to filter itself through it before reaching the infusion, +that then, although you might have plenty of animalcules in the first +flask, you would certainly obtain none from the second. + +These experiments, you see, all tended towards one conclusion--that the +infusoria were developed from little minute spores or eggs which +were constantly floating in the atmosphere, which lose their power of +germination if subjected to heat. But one observer now made another +experiment which seemed to go entirely the other way, and puzzled +him altogether. He took some of this boiled infusion that I have been +speaking of, and by the use of a mercurial bath--a kind of trough used +in laboratories--he deftly inverted a vessel containing the infusion +into the mercury, so that the latter reached a little beyond the level +of the mouth of the 'inverted' vessel. You see that he thus had a +quantity of the infusion shut off from any possible communication with +the outer air by being inverted upon a bed of mercury. + +He then prepared some pure oxygen and nitrogen gases, and passed them +by means of a tube going from the outside of the vessel, up through the +mercury into the infusion; so that he thus had it exposed to a perfectly +pure atmosphere of the same constituents as the external air. Of course, +he expected he would get no infusorial animalcules at all in that +infusion; but, to his great dismay and discomfiture, he found he almost +always did get them. + +Furthermore, it has been found that experiments made in the manner +described above answer well with most infusions; but that if you fill +the vessel with boiled milk, and then stop the neck with cotton-wool, +you 'will' have infusoria. So that you see there were two experiments +that brought you to one kind of conclusion, and three to another; which +was a most unsatisfactory state of things to arrive at in a scientific +inquiry. + +Some few years after this, the question began to be very hotly discussed +in France. There was M. Pouchet, a professor at Rouen, a very learned +man, but certainly not a very rigid experimentalist. He published a +number of experiments of his own, some of which were very ingenious, to +show that if you went to work in a proper way, there was a truth in +the doctrine of spontaneous generation. Well, it was one of the most +fortunate things in the world that M. Pouchet took up this question, +because it induced a distinguished French chemist, M. Pasteur, to take +up the question on the other side; and he has certainly worked it out +in the most perfect manner. I am glad to say, too, that he has published +his researches in time to enable me to give you an account of them. He +verified all the experiments which I have just mentioned to you--and +then finding those extraordinary anomalies, as in the case of the +mercury bath and the milk, he set himself to work to discover their +nature. In the case of milk he found it to be a question of temperature. +Milk in a fresh state is slightly alkaline; and it is a very curious +circumstance, but this very slight degree of alkalinity seems to have +the effect of preserving the organisms which fall into it from the +air from being destroyed at a temperature of 212 degrees, which is the +boiling point. But if you raise the temperature 10 degrees when you boil +it, the milk behaves like everything else; and if the air with which +it comes in contact, after being boiled at this temperature, is passed +through a red-hot tube, you will not get a trace of organisms. + +He then turned his attention to the mercury bath, and found on +examination that the surface of the mercury was almost always covered +with a very fine dust. He found that even the mercury itself was +positively full of organic matters; that from being constantly exposed +to the air, it had collected an immense number of these infusorial +organisms from the air. Well, under these circumstances he felt that the +case was quite clear, and that the mercury was not what it had appeared +to M. Schwann to be,--a bar to the admission of these organisms; but +that, in reality, it acted as a reservoir from which the infusion was +immediately supplied with the large quantity that had so puzzled him. + +But not content with explaining the experiments of others, M. Pasteur +went to work to satisfy himself completely. He said to himself: "If +my view is right, and if, in point of fact, all these appearances of +spontaneous generation are altogether due to the falling of minute germs +suspended in the atmosphere,--why, I ought not only to be able to show +the germs, but I ought to be able to catch and sow them, and produce +the resulting organisms." He, accordingly, constructed a very ingenious +apparatus to enable him to accomplish this trapping of this "germ dust" +in the air. He fixed in the window of his room a glass tube, in the +centre of which he had placed a ball of gun-cotton, which, as you all +know, is ordinary cotton-wool, which, from having been steeped in strong +acid, is converted into a substance of great explosive power. It is also +soluble in alcohol and ether. One end of the glass tube was, of course, +open to the external air; and at the other end of it he placed an +aspirator, a contrivance for causing a current of the external air to +pass through the tube. He kept this apparatus going for four-and-twenty +hours, and then removed the 'dusted' gun-cotton, and dissolved it in +alcohol and ether. He then allowed this to stand for a few hours, and +the result was, that a very fine dust was gradually deposited at +the bottom of it. That dust, on being transferred to the stage of a +microscope, was found to contain an enormous number of starch grains. +You know that the materials of our food and the greater portion of +plants are composed of starch, and we are constantly making use of it in +a variety of ways, so that there is always a quantity of it suspended +in the air. It is these starch grains which form many of those bright +specks that we see dancing in a ray of light sometimes. But besides +these, M. Pasteur found also an immense number of other organic +substances such as spores of fungi, which had been floating about in the +air and had got caged in this way. + +He went farther, and said to himself, "If these really are the things +that give rise to the appearance of spontaneous generation, I ought to +be able to take a ball of this 'dusted' gun-cotton and put it into one +of my vessels, containing that boiled infusion which has been kept away +from the air, and in which no infusoria are at present developed, and +then, if I am right, the introduction of this gun-cotton will give rise +to organisms." + +Accordingly, he took one of these vessels of infusion, which had been +kept eighteen months, without the least appearance of life, and by a +most ingenious contrivance, he managed to break it open and introduce +such a ball of gun-cotton, without allowing the infusion or the cotton +ball to come into contact with any air but that which had been subjected +to a red heat, and in twenty-four hours he had the satisfaction of +finding all the indications of what had been hitherto called spontaneous +generation. He had succeeded in catching the germs and developing +organisms in the way he had anticipated. + +It now struck him that the truth of his conclusions might be +demonstrated without all the apparatus he had employed. To do this, he +took some decaying animal or vegetable substance, such as urine, which +is an extremely decomposable substance, or the juice of yeast, or +perhaps some other artificial preparation, and filled a vessel having a +long tubular neck with it. He then boiled the liquid and bent that +long neck into an S shape or zig-zag, leaving it open at the end. The +infusion then gave no trace of any appearance of spontaneous generation, +however long it might be left, as all the germs in the air were +deposited in the beginning of the bent neck. He then cut the tube close +to the vessel, and allowed the ordinary air to have free and direct +access; and the result of that was the appearance of organisms in it, as +soon as the infusion had been allowed to stand long enough to allow +of the growth of those it received from the air, which was about +forty-eight hours. The result of M. Pasteur's experiments proved, +therefore, in the most conclusive manner, that all the appearances of +spontaneous generation arose from nothing more than the deposition of +the germs of organisms which were constantly floating in the air. + +To this conclusion, however, the objection was made, that if that were +the cause, then the air would contain such an enormous number of these +germs, that it would be a continual fog. But M. Pasteur replied that +they are not there in anything like the number we might suppose, and +that an exaggerated view has been held on that subject; he showed that +the chances of animal or vegetable life appearing in infusions, depend +entirely on the conditions under which they are exposed. If they are +exposed to the ordinary atmosphere around us, why, of course, you may +have organisms appearing early. But, on the other hand, if they are +exposed to air from a great height, or from some very quiet cellar, you +will often not find a single trace of life. + +So that M. Pasteur arrived at last at the clear and definite result, +that all these appearances are like the case of the worms in the piece +of meat, which was refuted by Redi, simply germs carried by the air and +deposited in the liquids in which they afterwards appear. For my own +part, I conceive that, with the particulars of M. Pasteur's experiments +before us, we cannot fail to arrive at his conclusions; and that the +doctrine of spontaneous generation has received a final 'coup de grace'. + +You, of course, understand that all this in no way interferes with the +'possibility' of the fabrication of organic matters by the direct method +to which I have referred, remote as that possibility may be. + + +[Footnote 1: Those who wish to study fully the doctrines of which I have +endeavoured to give some rough and ready illustrations, must read Mr. +John Stuart Mill's 'System of Logic'.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Method By Which The Causes Of The +Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings, by Thomas H. 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Huxley + + + + +In the two preceding lectures I have endeavoured to indicate to you the +extent of the subject-matter of the inquiry upon which we are engaged; +and now, having thus acquired some conception of the Past and Present +phenomena of Organic Nature, I must now turn to that which constitutes +the great problem which we have set before ourselves;--I mean, the +question of what knowledge we have of the causes of these phenomena of +organic nature, and how such knowledge is obtainable. + +Here, on the threshold of the inquiry, an objection meets us. There are +in the world a number of extremely worthy, well-meaning persons, whose +judgments and opinions are entitled to the utmost respect on account of +their sincerity, who are of opinion that Vital Phenomena, and +especially all questions relating to the origin of vital phenomena, are +questions quite apart from the ordinary run of inquiry, and are, by +their very nature, placed out of our reach. They say that all these +phenomena originated miraculously, or in some way totally different from +the ordinary course of nature, and that therefore they conceive it to +be futile, not to say presumptuous, to attempt to inquire into them. + +To such sincere and earnest persons, I would only say, that a question +of this kind is not to be shelved upon theoretical or speculative +grounds. You may remember the story of the Sophist who demonstrated to +Diogenes in the most complete and satisfactory manner that he could not +walk; that, in fact, all motion was an impossibility; and that Diogenes +refuted him by simply getting up and walking round his tub. So, in the +same way, the man of science replies to objections of this kind, by +simply getting up and walking onward, and showing what science has done +and is doing--by pointing to that immense mass of facts which have been +ascertained and systematized under the forms of the great doctrines of +Morphology, of Development, of Distribution, and the like. He sees an +enormous mass of facts and laws relating to organic beings, which stand +on the same good sound foundation as every other natural law; and +therefore, with this mass of facts and laws before us, therefore, seeing +that, as far as organic matters have hitherto been accessible and +studied, they have shown themselves capable of yielding to scientific +investigation, we may accept this as proof that order and law reign +there as well as in the rest of nature; and the man of science says +nothing to objectors of this sort, but supposes that we can and shall +walk to a knowledge of the origin of organic nature, in the same way +that we have walked to a knowledge of the laws and principles of the +inorganic world. + +But there are objectors who say the same from ignorance and ill-will. +To such I would reply that the objection comes ill from them, and that +the real presumption, I may almost say the real blasphemy, in this +matter, is in the attempt to limit that inquiry into the causes of +phenomena which is the source of all human blessings, and from which +has sprung all human prosperity and progress; for, after all, we can +accomplish comparatively little; the limited range of our own faculties +bounds us on every side,--the field of our powers of observation is +small enough, and he who endeavours to narrow the sphere of our +inquiries is only pursuing a course that is likely to produce the +greatest harm to his fellow-men. + +But now, assuming, as we all do, I hope, that these phenomena are +properly accessible to inquiry, and setting out upon our search into +the causes of the phenomena of organic nature, or, at any rate, setting +out to discover how much we at present know upon these abstruse +matters, the question arises as to what is to be our course of +proceeding, and what method we must lay down for our guidance. I reply +to that question, that our method must be exactly the same as that +which is pursued in any other scientific inquiry, the method of +scientific investigation being the same for all orders of facts and +phenomena whatsoever. + +I must dwell a little on this point, for I wish you to leave this room +with a very clear conviction that scientific investigation is not, as +many people seem to suppose, some kind of modern black art. I say that +you might easily gather this impression from the manner in which many +persons speak of scientific inquiry, or talk about inductive and +deductive philosophy, or the principles of the "Baconian philosophy." I +do protest that, of the vast number of cants in this world, there are +none, to my mind, so contemptible as the pseudoscientific cant which is +talked about the "Baconian philosophy." + +To hear people talk about the great Chancellor--and a very great man he +certainly was,--you would think that it was he who had invented +science, and that there was no such thing as sound reasoning before the +time of Queen Elizabeth. Of course you say, that cannot possibly be +true; you perceive, on a moment's reflection, that such an idea is +absurdly wrong, and yet, so firmly rooted is this sort of +impression,--I cannot call it an idea, or conception,--the thing is too +absurd to be entertained,--but so completely does it exist at the bottom +of most men's minds, that this has been a matter of observation with me +for many years past. There are many men who, though knowing absolutely +nothing of the subject with which they may be dealing, wish, +nevertheless, to damage the author of some view with which they think +fit to disagree. What they do, then, is not to go and learn something +about the subject, which one would naturally think the best way of +fairly dealing with it; but they abuse the originator of the view they +question, in a general manner, and wind up by saying that, "After all, +you know, the principles and method of this author are totally opposed +to the canons of the Baconian philosophy." Then everybody applauds, as +a matter of course, and agrees that it must be so. But if you were to +stop them all in the middle of their applause, you would probably find +that neither the speaker nor his applauders could tell you how or in +what way it was so; neither the one nor the other having the slightest +idea of what they mean when they speak of the "Baconian philosophy." + +You will understand, I hope, that I have not the slightest desire to +join in the outcry against either the morals, the intellect, or the +great genius of Lord Chancellor Bacon. He was undoubtedly a very great +man, let people say what they will of him; but notwithstanding all that +he did for philosophy, it would be entirely wrong to suppose that the +methods of modern scientific inquiry originated with him, or with his +age; they originated with the first man, whoever he was; and indeed +existed long before him, for many of the essential processes of +reasoning are exerted by the higher order of brutes as completely and +effectively as by ourselves. We see in many of the brute creation the +exercise of one, at least, of the same powers of reasoning as that +which we ourselves employ. + +The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of +the necessary mode of working of the human mind. It is simply the mode +at which all phenomena are reasoned about, rendered precise and exact. +There is no more difference, but there is just the same kind of +difference, between the mental operations of a man of science and those +of an ordinary person, as there is between the operations and methods +of a baker or of a butcher weighing out his goods in common scales, and +the operations of a chemist in performing a difficult and complex +analysis by means of his balance and finely-graduated weights. It is +not that the action of the scales in the one case, and the balance in +the other, differ in the principles of their construction or manner of +working; but the beam of one is set on an infinitely finer axis than +the other, and of course turns by the addition of a much smaller +weight. + +You will understand this better, perhaps, if I give you some familiar +example. You have all heard it repeated, I dare say, that men of +science work by means of Induction and Deduction, and that by the help +of these operations, they, in a sort of sense, wring from Nature +certain other things, which are called Natural Laws, and Causes, and +that out of these, by some cunning skill of their own, they build up +Hypotheses and Theories. And it is imagined by many, that the +operations of the common mind can be by no means compared with these +processes, and that they have to be acquired by a sort of special +apprenticeship to the craft. To hear all these large words, you would +think that the mind of a man of science must be constituted differently +from that of his fellow men; but if you will not be frightened by +terms, you will discover that you are quite wrong, and that all these +terrible apparatus are being used by yourselves every day and every +hour of your lives. + +There is a well-known incident in one of Moliere's plays, where the +author makes the hero express unbounded delight on being told that he +had been talking prose during the whole of his life. In the same way, +I trust, that you will take comfort, and be delighted with yourselves, +on the discovery that you have been acting on the principles of +inductive and deductive philosophy during the same period. Probably +there is not one here who has not in the course of the day had occasion +to set in motion a complex train of reasoning, of the very same kind, +though differing of course in degree, as that which a scientific man +goes through in tracing the causes of natural phenomena. + +A very trivial circumstance will serve to exemplify this. Suppose you +go into a fruiterer's shop, wanting an apple,--you take up one, and, on +biting it, you find it is sour; you look at it, and see that it is hard +and green. You take up another one, and that too is hard, green, and +sour. The shopman offers you a third; but, before biting it, you +examine it, and find that it is hard and green, and you immediately say +that you will not have it, as it must be sour, like those that you have +already tried. + +Nothing can be more simple than that, you think; but if you will take +the trouble to analyze and trace out into its logical elements what has +been done by the mind, you will be greatly surprised. In the first +place, you have performed the operation of Induction. You found that, +in two experiences, hardness and greenness in apples go together with +sourness. It was so in the first case, and it was confirmed by the +second. True, it is a very small basis, but still it is enough to make +an induction from; you generalize the facts, and you expect to find +sourness in apples where you get hardness and greenness. You found +upon that a general law, that all hard and green apples are sour; and +that, so far as it goes, is a perfect induction. Well, having got your +natural law in this way, when you are offered another apple which you +find is hard and green, you say, "All hard and green apples are sour; +this apple is hard and green, therefore this apple is sour." That +train of reasoning is what logicians call a syllogism, and has all its +various parts and terms,--its major premiss, its minor premiss, and its +conclusion. And, by the help of further reasoning, which, if drawn +out, would have to be exhibited in two or three other syllogisms, you +arrive at your final determination, "I will not have that apple." So +that, you see, you have, in the first place, established a law by +Induction, and upon that you have founded a Deduction, and reasoned out +the special conclusion of the particular case. Well now, suppose, +having got your law, that at some time afterwards, you are discussing +the qualities of apples with a friend: you will say to him, "It is a +very curious thing,--but I find that all hard and green apples are +sour!" Your friend says to you, "But how do you know that?" You at +once reply, "Oh, because I have tried it over and over again, and have +always found them to be so." Well. if we were talking science instead +of common sense, we should call that an Experimental Verification. And, +if still opposed, you go further, and say, "I have heard from the +people in Somersetshire and Devonshire, where a large number of apples +are grown, that they have observed the same thing. It is also found to +be the case in Normandy, and in North America. In short, I find it to +be the universal experience of mankind wherever attention has been +directed to the subject." Whereupon, your friend, unless he is a very +unreasonable man, agrees with you, and is convinced that you are quite +right in the conclusion you have drawn. He believes, although perhaps +he does not know he believes it, that the more extensive Verifications +are,--that the more frequently experiments have been made, and results +of the same kind arrived at,--that the more varied the conditions under +which the same results have been attained, the more certain is the +ultimate conclusion, and he disputes the question no further. He sees +that the experiment has been tried under all sorts of conditions, as to +time, place, and people, with the same result; and he says with you, +therefore, that the law you have laid down must be a good one, and he +must believe it. + +In science we do the same thing;--the philosopher exercises precisely +the same faculties, though in a much more delicate manner. In +scientific inquiry it becomes a matter of duty to expose a supposed law +to every possible kind of verification, and to take care, moreover, +that this is done intentionally, and not left to a mere accident, as in +the case of the apples. And in science, as in common life, our +confidence in a law is in exact proportion to the absence of variation +in the result of our experimental verifications. For instance, if you +let go your grasp of an article you may have in your hand, it will +immediately fall to the ground. That is a very common verification of +one of the best established laws of nature--that of gravitation. The +method by which men of science establish the existence of that law is +exactly the same as that by which we have established the trivial +proposition about the sourness of hard and green apples. But we +believe it in such an extensive, thorough, and unhesitating manner +because the universal experience of mankind verifies it, and we can +verify it ourselves at any time; and that is the strongest possible +foundation on which any natural law can rest. + +So much by way of proof that the method of establishing laws in science +is exactly the same as that pursued in common life. Let us now turn to +another matter (though really it is but another phase of the same +question), and that is, the method by which, from the relations of +certain phenomena, we prove that some stand in the position of causes +towards the others. + +I want to put the case clearly before you, and I will therefore show you +what I mean by another familiar example. I will suppose that one of +you, on coming down in the morning to the parlour of your house, finds +that a tea-pot and some spoons which had been left in the room on the +previous evening are gone,--the window is open, and you observe the mark +of a dirty hand on the window-frame, and perhaps, in addition to that, +you notice the impress of a hob-nailed shoe on the gravel outside. All +these phenomena have struck your attention instantly, and before two +minutes have passed you say, "Oh, somebody has broken open the window, +entered the room, and run off with the spoons and the tea-pot!" That +speech is out of your mouth in a moment. And you will probably add, "I +know there has; I am quite sure of it!" You mean to say exactly what +you know; but in reality what you have said has been the expression of +what is, in all essential particulars, an Hypothesis. You do not 'know' +it at all; it is nothing but an hypothesis rapidly framed in your own +mind! And it is an hypothesis founded on a long train of inductions +and deductions. + +What are those inductions and deductions, and how have you got at this +hypothesis? You have observed, in the first place, that the window is +open; but by a train of reasoning involving many Inductions and +Deductions, you have probably arrived long before at the General +Law--and a very good one it is--that windows do not open of themselves; +and you therefore conclude that something has opened the window. A +second general law that you have arrived at in the same way is, that +tea-pots and spoons do not go out of a window spontaneously, and you +are satisfied that, as they are not now where you left them, they have +been removed. In the third place, you look at the marks on the +window-sill, and the shoemarks outside, and you say that in all +previous experience the former kind of mark has never been produced by +anything else but the hand of a human being; and the same experience +shows that no other animal but man at present wears shoes with +hob-nails on them such as would produce the marks in the gravel. I do +not know, even if we could discover any of those "missing links" that +are talked about, that they would help us to any other conclusion! At +any rate the law which states our present experience is strong enough +for my present purpose.--You next reach the conclusion, that as these +kinds of marks have not been left by any other animals than men, or are +liable to be formed in any other way than by a man's hand and shoe, the +marks in question have been formed by a man in that way. You have, +further, a general law, founded on observation and experience, and +that, too, is, I am sorry to say, a very universal and unimpeachable +one,--that some men are thieves; and you assume at once from all these +premisses--and that is what constitutes your hypothesis--that the man +who made the marks outside and on the window-sill, opened the window, +got into the room, and stole your tea-pot and spoons. You have now +arrived at a 'Vera Causa';--you have assumed a Cause which it is plain +is competent to produce all the phenomena you have observed. You can +explain all these phenomena only by the hypothesis of a thief. But +that is a hypothetical conclusion, of the justice of which you have no +absolute proof at all; it is only rendered highly probable by a series +of inductive and deductive reasonings. + +I suppose your first action, assuming that you are a man of ordinary +common sense, and that you have established this hypothesis to your own +satisfaction, will very likely be to go off for the police, and set +them on the track of the burglar, with the view to the recovery of your +property. But just as you are starting with this object, some person +comes in, and on learning what you are about, says, "My good friend, +you are going on a great deal too fast. How do you know that the man +who really made the marks took the spoons? It might have been a monkey +that took them, and the man may have merely looked in afterwards." You +would probably reply, "Well, that is all very well, but you see it is +contrary to all experience of the way tea-pots and spoons are +abstracted; so that, at any rate, your hypothesis is less probable than +mine." While you are talking the thing over in this way, another friend +arrives, one of that good kind of people that I was talking of a little +while ago. And he might say, "Oh, my dear sir, you are certainly going +on a great deal too fast. You are most presumptuous. You admit that +all these occurrences took place when you were fast asleep, at a time +when you could not possibly have known anything about what was taking +place. How do you know that the laws of Nature are not suspended +during the night? It may be that there has been some kind of +supernatural interference in this case." In point of fact, he declares +that your hypothesis is one of which you cannot at all demonstrate the +truth, and that you are by no means sure that the laws of Nature are +the same when you are asleep as when you are awake. + +Well, now, you cannot at the moment answer that kind of reasoning. You +feel that your worthy friend has you somewhat at a disadvantage. You +will feel perfectly convinced in your own mind, however, that you are +quite right, and you say to him, "My good friend, I can only be guided +by the natural probabilities of the case, and if you will be kind enough +to stand aside and permit me to pass, I will go and fetch the police." +Well, we will suppose that your journey is successful, and that by good +luck you meet with a policeman; that eventually the burglar is found +with your property on his person, and the marks correspond to his hand +and to his boots. Probably any jury would consider those facts a very +good experimental verification of your hypothesis, touching the cause +of the abnormal phenomena observed in your parlour, and would act +accordingly. + +Now, in this suppositious case, I have taken phenomena of a very common +kind, in order that you might see what are the different steps in an +ordinary process of reasoning, if you will only take the trouble to +analyse it carefully. All the operations I have described, you will +see, are involved in the mind of any man of sense in leading him to a +conclusion as to the course he should take in order to make good a +robbery and punish the offender. I say that you are led, in that case, +to your conclusion by exactly the same train of reasoning as that which +a man of science pursues when he is endeavouring to discover the origin +and laws of the most occult phenomena. The process is, and always must +be, the same; and precisely the same mode of reasoning was employed by +Newton and Laplace in their endeavours to discover and define the +causes of the movements of the heavenly bodies, as you, with your own +common sense, would employ to detect a burglar. The only difference +is, that the nature of the inquiry being more abstruse, every step has +to be most carefully watched, so that there may not be a single crack +or flaw in your hypothesis. A flaw or crack in many of the hypotheses +of daily life may be of little or no moment as affecting the general +correctness of the conclusions at which we may arrive; but, in a +scientific inquiry, a fallacy, great or small, is always of importance, +and is sure to be constantly productive of mischievous, if not fatal +results. + +Do not allow yourselves to be misled by the common notion that an +hypothesis is untrustworthy simply because it is an hypothesis. It is +often urged, in respect to some scientific conclusion, that, after all, +it is only an hypothesis. But what more have we to guide us in +nine-tenths of the most important affairs of daily life than hypotheses, +and often very ill-based ones? So that in science, where the evidence +of an hypothesis is subjected to the most rigid examination, we may +rightly pursue the same course. You may have hypotheses and +hypotheses. A man may say, if he likes, that the moon is made of green +cheese: that is an hypothesis. But another man, who has devoted a +great deal of time and attention to the subject, and availed himself of +the most powerful telescopes and the results of the observations of +others, declares that in his opinion it is probably composed of +materials very similar to those of which our own earth is made up: and +that is also only an hypothesis. But I need not tell you that there is +an enormous difference in the value of the two hypotheses. That one +which is based on sound scientific knowledge is sure to have a +corresponding value; and that which is a mere hasty random guess is +likely to have but little value. Every great step in our progress in +discovering causes has been made in exactly the same way as that which I +have detailed to you. A person observing the occurrence of certain +facts and phenomena asks, naturally enough, what process, what kind of +operation known to occur in nature applied to the particular case, will +unravel and explain the mystery? Hence you have the scientific +hypothesis; and its value will be proportionate to the care and +completeness with which its basis had been tested and verified. It is +in these matters as in the commonest affairs of practical life: the +guess of the fool will be folly, while the guess of the wise man will +contain wisdom. In all cases, you see that the value of the result +depends on the patience and faithfulness with which the investigator +applies to his hypothesis every possible kind of verification. + +I dare say I may have to return to this point by-and-by; but having +dealt thus far with our logical methods, I must now turn to something +which, perhaps, you may consider more interesting, or, at any rate, +more tangible. But in reality there are but few things that can be +more important for you to understand than the mental processes and the +means by which we obtain scientific conclusions and theories.1 Having +granted that the inquiry is a proper one, and having determined on the +nature of the methods we are to pursue and which only can lead to +success, I must now turn to the consideration of our knowledge of the +nature of the processes which have resulted in the present condition of +organic nature. + +Here, let me say at once, lest some of you misunderstand me, that I have +extremely little to report. The question of how the present condition +of organic nature came about, resolves itself into two questions. The +first is: How has organic or living matter commenced its existence? And +the second is: How has it been perpetuated? On the second question I +shall have more to say hereafter. But on the first one, what I now +have to say will be for the most part of a negative character. + +If you consider what kind of evidence we can have upon this matter, it +will resolve itself into two kinds. We may have historical evidence +and we may have experimental evidence. It is, for example, +conceivable, that inasmuch as the hardened mud which forms a +considerable portion of the thickness of the earth's crust contains +faithful records of the past forms of life, and inasmuch as these +differ more and more as we go further down,--it is possible and +conceivable that we might come to some particular bed or stratum which +should contain the remains of those creatures with which organic life +began upon the earth. And if we did so, and if such forms of organic +life were preservable, we should have what I would call historical +evidence of the mode in which organic life began upon this planet. Many +persons will tell you, and indeed you will find it stated in many works +on geology, that this has been done, and that we really possess such a +record; there are some who imagine that the earliest forms of life of +which we have as yet discovered any record, are in truth the forms in +which animal life began upon the globe. The grounds on which they base +that supposition are these:--That if you go through the enormous +thickness of the earth's crust and get down to the older rocks, the +higher vertebrate animals--the quadrupeds, birds, and fishes--cease to +be found; beneath them you find only the invertebrate animals; and in +the deepest and lowest rocks those remains become scantier and +scantier, not in any very gradual progression, however, until, at +length, in what are supposed to be the oldest rocks, the animal remains +which are found are almost always confined to four forms--'Oldhamia', +whose precise nature is not known, whether plant or animal; 'Lingula', +a kind of mollusc; 'Trilobites', a crustacean animal, having the same +essential plan of construction, though differing in many details from a +lobster or crab; and Hymenocaris, which is also a crustacean. So that +you have all the 'Fauna' reduced, at this period, to four forms: one a +kind of animal or plant that we know nothing about, and three undoubted +animals--two crustaceans and one mollusc. + +I think, considering the organization of these mollusca and crustacea, +and looking at their very complex nature, that it does indeed require a +very strong imagination to conceive that these were the first created +of all living things. And you must take into consideration the fact +that we have not the slightest proof that these which we call the +oldest beds are really so: I repeat, we have not the slightest proof of +it. When you find in some places that in an enormous thickness of +rocks there are but very scanty traces of life, or absolutely none at +all; and that in other parts of the world rocks of the very same +formation are crowded with the records of living forms, I think it is +impossible to place any reliance on the supposition, or to feel oneself +justified in supposing that these are the forms in which life first +commenced. I have not time here to enter upon the technical grounds +upon which I am led to this conclusion,--that could hardly be done +properly in half a dozen lectures on that part alone;--I must content +myself with saying that I do not at all believe that these are the +oldest forms of life. + +I turn to the experimental side to see what evidence we have there. To +enable us to say that we know anything about the experimental +origination of organization and life, the investigator ought to be able +to take inorganic matters, such as carbonic acid, ammonia, water, and +salines, in any sort of inorganic combination, and be able to build +them up into Protein matter, and that that Protein matter ought to +begin to live in an organic form. That, nobody has done as yet, and I +suspect it will be a long while before anybody does do it. But the +thing is by no means so impossible as it looks; for the researches of +modern chemistry have shown us--I won't say the road towards it, but, +if I may so say, they have shown the finger-post pointing to the road +that may lead to it. + +It is not many years ago--and you must recollect that Organic Chemistry +is a young science, not above a couple of generations old,--you must +not expect too much of it; it is not many years ago since it was said +to be perfectly impossible to fabricate any organic compound; that is +to say, any non-mineral compound which is to be found in an organized +being. It remained so for a very long period; but it is now a +considerable number of years since a distinguished foreign chemist +contrived to fabricate Urea, a substance of a very complex character, +which forms one of the waste products of animal structures. And of +late years a number of other compounds, such as Butyric Acid, and +others, have been added to the list. I need not tell you that +chemistry is an enormous distance from the goal I indicate; all I wish +to point out to you is, that it is by no means safe to say that that +goal may not be reached one day. It may be that it is impossible for +us to produce the conditions requisite to the origination of life; but +we must speak modestly about the matter, and recollect that Science has +put her foot upon the bottom round of the ladder. Truly he would be a +bold man who would venture to predict where she will be fifty years +hence. + +There is another inquiry which bears indirectly upon this question, and +upon which I must say a few words. You are all of you aware of the +phenomena of what is called spontaneous generation. Our forefathers, +down to the seventeenth century, or thereabouts, all imagined, in +perfectly good faith, that certain vegetable and animal forms gave +birth, in the process of their decomposition, to insect life. Thus, if +you put a piece of meat in the sun, and allowed it to putrefy, they +conceived that the grubs which soon began to appear were the result of +the action of a power of spontaneous generation which the meat +contained. And they could give you receipts for making various animal +and vegetable preparations which would produce particular kinds of +animals. A very distinguished Italian naturalist, named Redi, took up +the question, at a time when everybody believed in it; among others our +own great Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. You +will constantly find his name quoted, however, as an opponent of the +doctrine of spontaneous generation; but the fact is, and you will see it +if you will take the trouble to look into his works, Harvey believed it +as profoundly as any man of his time; but he happened to enunciate a +very curious proposition--that every living thing came from an 'egg'; +he did not mean to use the word in the sense in which we now employ it, +he only meant to say that every living thing originated in a little +rounded particle of organized substance; and it is from this +circumstance, probably, that the notion of Harvey having opposed the +doctrine originated. Then came Redi, and he proceeded to upset the +doctrine in a very simple manner. He merely covered the piece of meat +with some very fine gauze, and then he exposed it to the same +conditions. The result of this was that no grubs or insects were +produced; he proved that the grubs originated from the insects who came +and deposited their eggs in the meat, and that they were hatched by the +heat of the sun. By this kind of inquiry he thoroughly upset the +doctrine of spontaneous generation, for his time at least. + +Then came the discovery and application of the microscope to scientific +inquiries, which showed to naturalists that besides the organisms which +they already knew as living beings and plants, there were an immense +number of minute things which could be obtained apparently almost at +will from decaying vegetable and animal forms. Thus, if you took some +ordinary black pepper or some hay, and steeped it in water, you would +find in the course of a few days that the water had become impregnated +with an immense number of animalcules swimming about in all +directions. From facts of this kind naturalists were led to revive the +theory of spontaneous generation. They were headed here by an English +naturalist,--Needham,--and afterwards in France by the learned Buffon. +They said that these things were absolutely begotten in the water of +the decaying substances out of which the infusion was made. It did not +matter whether you took animal or vegetable matter, you had only to +steep it in water and expose it, and you would soon have plenty of +animalcules. They made an hypothesis about this which was a very fair +one. They said, this matter of the animal world, or of the higher +plants, appears to be dead, but in reality it has a sort of dim life +about it, which, if it is placed under fair conditions, will cause it +to break up into the forms of these little animalcules, and they will +go through their lives in the same way as the animal or plant of which +they once formed a part. + +The question now became very hotly debated. Spallanzani, an Italian +naturalist, took up opposite views to those of Needham and Buffon, and +by means of certain experiments he showed that it was quite possible to +stop the process by boiling the water, and closing the vessel in which +it was contained. "Oh!" said his opponents; "but what do you know you +may be doing when you heat the air over the water in this way? You may +be destroying some property of the air requisite for the spontaneous +generation of the animalcules." + +However, Spallanzani's views were supposed to be upon the right side, +and those of the others fell into discredit; although the fact was that +Spallanzani had not made good his views. Well, then, the subject +continued to be revived from time to time, and experiments were made by +several persons; but these experiments were not altogether satisfactory. +It was found that if you put an infusion in which animalcules would +appear if it were exposed to the air into a vessel and boiled it, and +then sealed up the mouth of the vessel, so that no air, save such as +had been heated to 212 degrees, could reach its contents, that then no +animalcules would be found; but if you took the same vessel and exposed +the infusion to the air, then you would get animalcules. Furthermore, +it was found that if you connected the mouth of the vessel with a +red-hot tube in such a way that the air would have to pass through the +tube before reaching the infusion, that then you would get no +animalcules. Yet another thing was noticed: if you took two flasks +containing the same kind of infusion, and left one entirely exposed to +the air, and in the mouth of the other placed a ball of cotton wool, so +that the air would have to filter itself through it before reaching the +infusion, that then, although you might have plenty of animalcules in +the first flask, you would certainly obtain none from the second. + +These experiments, you see, all tended towards one conclusion--that the +infusoria were developed from little minute spores or eggs which were +constantly floating in the atmosphere, which lose their power of +germination if subjected to heat. But one observer now made another +experiment which seemed to go entirely the other way, and puzzled him +altogether. He took some of this boiled infusion that I have been +speaking of, and by the use of a mercurial bath--a kind of trough used +in laboratories--he deftly inverted a vessel containing the infusion +into the mercury, so that the latter reached a little beyond the level +of the mouth of the 'inverted' vessel. You see that he thus had a +quantity of the infusion shut off from any possible communication with +the outer air by being inverted upon a bed of mercury. + +He then prepared some pure oxygen and nitrogen gases, and passed them by +means of a tube going from the outside of the vessel, up through the +mercury into the infusion; so that he thus had it exposed to a +perfectly pure atmosphere of the same constituents as the external air. +Of course, he expected he would get no infusorial animalcules at all in +that infusion; but, to his great dismay and discomfiture, he found he +almost always did get them. + +Furthermore, it has been found that experiments made in the manner +described above answer well with most infusions; but that if you fill +the vessel with boiled milk, and then stop the neck with cotton-wool, +you 'will' have infusoria. So that you see there were two experiments +that brought you to one kind of conclusion, and three to another; which +was a most unsatisfactory state of things to arrive at in a scientific +inquiry. + +Some few years after this, the question began to be very hotly discussed +in France. There was M. Pouchet, a professor at Rouen, a very learned +man, but certainly not a very rigid experimentalist. He published a +number of experiments of his own, some of which were very ingenious, to +show that if you went to work in a proper way, there was a truth in the +doctrine of spontaneous generation. Well, it was one of the most +fortunate things in the world that M. Pouchet took up this question, +because it induced a distinguished French chemist, M. Pasteur, to take +up the question on the other side; and he has certainly worked it out in +the most perfect manner. I am glad to say, too, that he has published +his researches in time to enable me to give you an account of them. He +verified all the experiments which I have just mentioned to you--and +then finding those extraordinary anomalies, as in the case of the +mercury bath and the milk, he set himself to work to discover their +nature. In the case of milk he found it to be a question of +temperature. Milk in a fresh state is slightly alkaline; and it is a +very curious circumstance, but this very slight degree of alkalinity +seems to have the effect of preserving the organisms which fall into it +from the air from being destroyed at a temperature of 212 degrees, +which is the boiling point. But if you raise the temperature 10 degrees +when you boil it, the milk behaves like everything else; and if the air +with which it comes in contact, after being boiled at this temperature, +is passed through a red-hot tube, you will not get a trace of +organisms. + +He then turned his attention to the mercury bath, and found on +examination that the surface of the mercury was almost always covered +with a very fine dust. He found that even the mercury itself was +positively full of organic matters; that from being constantly exposed +to the air, it had collected an immense number of these infusorial +organisms from the air. Well, under these circumstances he felt that +the case was quite clear, and that the mercury was not what it had +appeared to M. Schwann to be,--a bar to the admission of these +organisms; but that, in reality, it acted as a reservoir from which the +infusion was immediately supplied with the large quantity that had so +puzzled him. + +But not content with explaining the experiments of others, M. Pasteur +went to work to satisfy himself completely. He said to himself: "If my +view is right, and if, in point of fact, all these appearances of +spontaneous generation are altogether due to the falling of minute +germs suspended in the atmosphere,--why, I ought not only to be able to +show the germs, but I ought to be able to catch and sow them, and +produce the resulting organisms." He, accordingly, constructed a very +ingenious apparatus to enable him to accomplish this trapping of this +"germ dust" in the air. He fixed in the window of his room a glass +tube, in the centre of which he had placed a ball of gun-cotton, which, +as you all know, is ordinary cotton-wool, which, from having been +steeped in strong acid, is converted into a substance of great explosive +power. It is also soluble in alcohol and ether. One end of the glass +tube was, of course, open to the external air; and at the other end of +it he placed an aspirator, a contrivance for causing a current of the +external air to pass through the tube. He kept this apparatus going +for four-and-twenty hours, and then removed the 'dusted' gun-cotton, +and dissolved it in alcohol and ether. He then allowed this to stand +for a few hours, and the result was, that a very fine dust was +gradually deposited at the bottom of it. That dust, on being +transferred to the stage of a microscope, was found to contain an +enormous number of starch grains. You know that the materials of our +food and the greater portion of plants are composed of starch, and we +are constantly making use of it in a variety of ways, so that there is +always a quantity of it suspended in the air. It is these starch +grains which form many of those bright specks that we see dancing in a +ray of light sometimes. But besides these, M. Pasteur found also an +immense number of other organic substances such as spores of fungi, +which had been floating about in the air and had got caged in this way. + +He went farther, and said to himself, "If these really are the things +that give rise to the appearance of spontaneous generation, I ought to +be able to take a ball of this 'dusted' gun-cotton and put it into one +of my vessels, containing that boiled infusion which has been kept away +from the air, and in which no infusoria are at present developed, and +then, if I am right, the introduction of this gun-cotton will give rise +to organisms." + +Accordingly, he took one of these vessels of infusion, which had been +kept eighteen months, without the least appearance of life, and by a +most ingenious contrivance, he managed to break it open and introduce +such a ball of gun-cotton, without allowing the infusion or the cotton +ball to come into contact with any air but that which had been subjected +to a red heat, and in twenty-four hours he had the satisfaction of +finding all the indications of what had been hitherto called +spontaneous generation. He had succeeded in catching the germs and +developing organisms in the way he had anticipated. + +It now struck him that the truth of his conclusions might be +demonstrated without all the apparatus he had employed. To do this, he +took some decaying animal or vegetable substance, such as urine, which +is an extremely decomposable substance, or the juice of yeast, or +perhaps some other artificial preparation, and filled a vessel having a +long tubular neck with it. He then boiled the liquid and bent that +long neck into an S shape or zig-zag, leaving it open at the end. The +infusion then gave no trace of any appearance of spontaneous +generation, however long it might be left, as all the germs in the air +were deposited in the beginning of the bent neck. He then cut the tube +close to the vessel, and allowed the ordinary air to have free and +direct access; and the result of that was the appearance of organisms in +it, as soon as the infusion had been allowed to stand long enough to +allow of the growth of those it received from the air, which was about +forty-eight hours. The result of M. Pasteur's experiments proved, +therefore, in the most conclusive manner, that all the appearances of +spontaneous generation arose from nothing more than the deposition of +the germs of organisms which were constantly floating in the air. + +To this conclusion, however, the objection was made, that if that were +the cause, then the air would contain such an enormous number of these +germs, that it would be a continual fog. But M. Pasteur replied that +they are not there in anything like the number we might suppose, and +that an exaggerated view has been held on that subject; he showed that +the chances of animal or vegetable life appearing in infusions, depend +entirely on the conditions under which they are exposed. If they are +exposed to the ordinary atmosphere around us, why, of course, you may +have organisms appearing early. But, on the other hand, if they are +exposed to air from a great height, or from some very quiet cellar, you +will often not find a single trace of life. + +So that M. Pasteur arrived at last at the clear and definite result, +that all these appearances are like the case of the worms in the piece +of meat, which was refuted by Redi, simply germs carried by the air and +deposited in the liquids in which they afterwards appear. For my own +part, I conceive that, with the particulars of M. Pasteur's experiments +before us, we cannot fail to arrive at his conclusions; and that the +doctrine of spontaneous generation has received a final 'coup de +grace'. + +You, of course, understand that all this in no way interferes with the +'possibility' of the fabrication of organic matters by the direct +method to which I have referred, remote as that possibility may be. + + + [Footnote] 1 Those who wish to study fully the doctrines of + which I have endeavoured to give some rough and ready + illustrations, must read Mr. John Stuart Mill's 'System of + Logic'. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Origination of Living Beings +by Thomas H. Huxley + diff --git a/old/thx0310.zip b/old/thx0310.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43008e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thx0310.zip |