Posted: Dec 21, 2017 2:31 pm
He went on to explain that "at the present day such matter would be instantly devoured or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed
Present day is a far cry from the first few millennia after the first life appeared, there would likely have been no competition encountered within the same area. Separate instances of self-sustaining life could have arisen independently, for a while at least.