Produced by Distributed Proofreaders Life: Its True Genesis By R. W. Wright [Masoretic Hebrew.]--אֲׁשֶֽר זַרְעוׄ־בִל עַל־הָאָ֑רֶע׃.-- Οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ χατὰ γένος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. [Septuagint.] "Whose general principle of life, each in itself after its own kind, is upon the earth." [Correct Translation.] Second Edition 1884 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO ARTHUR E. HOTCHKISS, ESQ. OF CHESHIRE, CONN. Contents. Prefatory Chapter I. Introductory. Chapter II. Life--Its True Genesis. Chapter III. Alternations of Forest Growths. Chapter IV. The Distribution and Vitality of Seeds. Chapter V. Plant Migration and Interglacial Periods. Chapter VI. Distribution and Permanence of Species. Chapter VII. What Is Life? Its Various Theories. Chapter VIII. Materialistic Theories of Life Refuted. Chapter IX. Force-Correlation, Differentiation and Other Life Theories. Chapter X. Darwinism Considered from a Vitalistic Stand-point. Preface to Second Edition. Here is the law of life, as laid down by the eagle-eyed prophet Isaiah, in that remarkable chapter commencing, "Ho, every one that thirsteth"--whether it be after knowledge, or any other earthly or spiritual good--come unto me and I will give you that which you seek. This is the spirit of the text, and these are the words at the commencement of the tenth verse: "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it (_the earth_) bring forth and bud (_not first bud, bear seed, and then bring forth_), that it (_the earth_) may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater (_man being the only sower of seed and eater of bread_): so shall my Word be (_the Word of Life_) that goeth forth out of my mouth (_the mouth of the Lord_); it shall not return unto me void (_i.e., lifeless_), but it shall accomplish that which I (_the Lord Jehovah_) please, and it (_the living Word_) shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." This formula of life is as true now as it was over two thousand six hundred years ago, when it was penned by the divinely inspired prophet, and it is as true now as it was then, that "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." That is, as the rains descend and the floods come and change the face of the earth, a law, equivalent to the divine command, "Let the earth bring forth," is forever operative, changing the face of nature and causing it to give expression to new forms of life as the conditions thereof are changed, and these forms are spoken into existence by the divine fiat.