The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

48 SCIENCE AND RELIGION.question is discussed. From the germ-cell,we pass down to an albuminous substancespread over the ocean-bed, said to have life,or we descend to microscopic organisms, suchas bacteria; and a step lower down still, weare introduced to the question whether inwater passed through the boiling process soas to guard against the presence of germinalforms, we may not witness the origin of life.The question so raised had additional interestbecause of the bearing it rnight have onthe first appearance of life in the history ofthis world. This interest was shared on bothsides, by those who held that creation is aconception not only alien to scientific thought(which it may well be *), but inconsistent withit; and by those who regarded creation as theonly conception adequate to meet rational requirements.The question had at the sametime a direct practical interest connected withpublic health, on acco~ult of its bearing uponthe diffusion and vital tenacity of spores orgerminal forms capable of spreading contagiousdisease.?* Science can not reach the beginning of things.t Fee Disease Germs, their Nature and Origin, by Beale. London,Churchill; Philadelphia, Lindsay and Blaikiston.