Agassiz, When I Saw Him

This Substance, Which Is Manifold In Its Forms And Protean In Its Transformations, Has, In Its State Of Living Matter, One Physiological Name Which Has Become Familiar, That Of Protoplasm.

We May Take It To Be The Accepted Idea That The Mosaic Books Were Not Handed Down To Us For Our Instruction In Scientific Knowledge, And That It Is Our Duty To Ground Our Scientific Beliefs Upon Observation And Inference, Unmixed With Considerations Of A Different Order.

It Remains To Consider What Attitude Thoughtful Men And Christian Believers Should Take Respecting Them, And How They Stand Related To Beliefs Of Another Order.

Many Years Ago It Was Taught That Plants And Animals Were Composed Of Different Materials: Plants, Of A Chemical Substance Of Three Elements,- Carbon, Hydrogen, And Oxygen; Animals Of One Of Four Elements, Nitrogen Being Added To The Other Three.

It Was Always Understood That Plants And Animals, Though Completely Contrasted In Their Higher Representatives, Approached Each Other Very Closely In Their Lower And Simpler Forms. But They Were Believed Not To Blend.