ng fact that there is an
infinite difference of protoplasm in the infinitely different plants and
animals, in each of which _its own protoplasm but produces its own kind_.
"Here are several thousand pieces of protoplasm; analysis can detect no
difference in them. They are to us, let us say, as they are to Mr.
Huxley, identical in power, in form, and in substance; and yet on all
these several thousand little bits of apparently indistinguishable matter
an element of difference so pervading and so persistent has been
impressed, that of them all, not one is interchangeable with another!
Each seed feeds its own kind. The protoplasm of the gnat will no more
grow into the fly than it will grow into an elephant. Protoplasm is
protoplasm; yes, but man's protoplasm is man's protoplasm, and the
mushroom's the mushroom's." (Dr. Sterling, _"As Regards Protoplasm."_)
Hence we are compelled to acknowledge not an identity of protoplasm in
all substances, but an infinite diversity. It follows that the
derivation of all plant and animal forms from an original speck or germ
of living matter is not only un-proven, but is contradicted by
biological science.

Darwin himself, like his co-laborer Wallace, was constrained to admit
that the origin of life constitutes an unsolved problem. Matter and
force do not account for it. Darwin accepted a divine fiat somewhere in
the beginning. He says. "There is grandeur in this view of life, with
its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into
the first forms or into one." In other words, the creation of the first
living being was an exceptional kind of power. But if, as Mr. Darwin
says, life was breathed by the Creator into the first forms, this
constitutes a break in the sufficiency of natural causes alone to
produce life. If a special fiat was necessary at this point, why may it
not have been at others? If by divine omnipotence, life is believed to
have been originated, why shall we not believe that by divine
omnipotence the various species of plants and animals were brought forth
as related in the first chapter of the Bible? "If the Creator could
breathe life into a few forms or into one, as Darwin thinks he did,
without violating the law of his own being, and in accordance with the
laws which he has established, it seems evident that he might at other
times breathe life into other forms in accordance with his laws. I see
no necessity for a logic that would compel the Creator