throws remarkable light on the subject of the living body, and on one of the most serious problems relative to its origin, that of spontaneous generation.
Conclusion.—These facts lead to one conclusion. Until the concourse of propitious circumstances favourable to their spontaneous generation was brought about, crystals were obtained only by filiation. Until the discovery of electro-magnetism, magnets were made only by filiation, by means of the simple or double application of a pre-existing magnet. Before the discovery which fable attributes to Prometheus, every new fire was produced only by means of a spark from a pre-existing fire. We are at the same historical stage as regards the living world, and that is why, up to the present, there has never been formed a single particle of living matter except by filiation, except by the intervention of a pre-existing living organism.
