tical. A molecule of water is always and
invariably composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. A
molecule of sulphuric acid invariably contains two atoms of hydrogen,
one of sulphur, and four of oxygen. A molecule of potassium chlorate is
always composed of just one atom of potassium chloride and three atoms
of oxygen. Never is there any variation of these proportions in the same
element, and a chemist will, without handling the elements, merely by
mathematical calculation, unerringly produce new combinations, relying
on the absolute constancy of the relations of atoms and molecules. Now,
the theory that in the beginning of things, out of a mass of atoms
diffused without form through space, molecules came into being, each
kind or type composed of atoms according to a proportion peculiarly its
own, cannot be accepted unless it is shown in what manner the laws came
into existence according to which these combinations take place. Clerk
Maxwell concludes a masterly statement of this aspect of the hypothesis
by asking: "Who can restrain the ulterior question, Whence then these
myriad types of the same letter imprinted on the earth, the sun, the
stars, as if the very mould used here had been lent to Sirius, and
passed on through the constellations? No theory of evolution can be
formed to account for the similarity of the molecules throughout all
time, and throughout the whole region of the stellar universe; for
evolution necessarily implies continuous change, and the molecule (as
known to science) is incapable of growth or decay, of generation or
destruction."

The Origin of Life.

The origin of life on our globe is not accounted for on the basis of the
evolutionary hypothesis. At some time in the remote past, there must,
according to the theory, have been a development of living substance
from a mineral base. But if scientific experiment has shown anything it
has shown the unreality of what was called "spontaneous generation."
This term was very popular with the scientists of a century or two ago.
It was believed that certain animal and vegetable forms gave birth, in
the process of decay, to insect life. Putrefying meat gives rise to
maggots. The origin of these grubs was referred to the power of
"spontaneous generation." When the Italian naturalist Redi discovered
that an exclusion of flies from meat was all that was necessary to
prevent the production of grubs, the doctrine of spontaneous generation
was thoroug