the power of communication is slowly elaborated, speech and
education begin, and the knowledge of the individual is no longer
limited to his own experience, but expands till it embraces the past
history and the condensed acquisition of the race. And thus gradually
arises a developed self-consciousness, a discrimination between the
self and the external world, and a realisation of the power of choice
and freedom,--a stage beyond which we have not travelled as yet, but a
stage at which almost all things seem possible.

The first two properties, assimilation and reproduction, overshadowed
by the possibility of _death_, are properties of life of every kind,
plant life as of all other. The power of locomotion and special senses,
over-shadowed by the sense of _pain_, are the sign of a still further
development into what we call "animal life." The further development,
of mind, consciousness, and sense of freedom, overshadowed by the
possibility of wilful error or _sin_, is the conspicuous attribute
of life which is distinctively human.

Thus, our complex molecular aggregate has shown itself capable of
extraordinary and most interesting processes, has proved capable of
constituting the material vehicle of life, the natural basis of living
organisms, and even of mind; very much as a planet of certain size
proved capable of possessing an atmosphere.

But is it to be supposed that the complex aggregate _generated_ the
life and mind, as the 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 atmosphere; 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 aggregate 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 are rigorously excluded,
the attempt hitherto has been a failure: so far, no li