LIFE, ITS PHYSICAL BASIS AND SIMPLEST EXPRESSION 45 



nature that just that fortunate coincidence of all necessary con- 

 ditions and elements occurred which allowed C, H, O, N, to unite 

 in those great, almost infinitely complex, molecules which com- 

 pose the albuminous compounds whose existence is the only real 

 chemical characteristic peculiar to living matter. But we have 



FIG. 36. African or two-toed ostrich, Struthio camelus. (Photograph by William 



Graham.) 



