Life and matter : a criticism of Professor Haeckel's "Riddle of the universe" / by Sir Oliver Lodge.

Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Life and matter : a criticism of Professor Haeckel's "Riddle of the universe" / by Sir Oliver Lodge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    planet generated its atmosphere ? That is the so-called materialistic view, but to the writer it seems an erroneous one, and it is certainly one that is not proven. It is not even certain that every planet generated all the gases of its own atmosphere : some of them it may have swept up in its excursion through space. What is certain is that it possesses the power of retaining an atmo- sphere ; it is by no means so certain how all the constituents of that atmosphere arrived. Questions concerning the Origin and Nature of Life. All that we have actually experienced and verified is that a complex molecular aggre- gate is capable of being the vehicle or material basis of life ; but to the question what life is we have as yet no answer. Many have been the attempts to generate life de novo^ by packing together suitable materials and keeping them pleasantly warm for a long time ; but, if all germs of pre-existing life