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




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