14 



GEXEEAL PART. 



expressed in the above discussion of the properties of living things 

 and unorganised bodies, we must not in our criticism of the relations 

 between them lose sight of the fact, that in numerous lower forms 



of life, metabolism, and all the 

 activities of life can be completely 

 suppressed by the removal of 

 warmth and water, without there- 

 by injuring the capacity of the 

 organism for continuing to live; 



and further, that in the smallest 

 '% 



organisms, which are proved to be 

 such by then 1 capacity of repro- 

 ducing themselves by their meta- 

 bolism, and it is impossible, by 

 means of the very strongest powers 

 of the microscope, to detect any 

 organization. Since, moreover, the 

 organic matter composing such 

 forms consist of combinations 

 which can be produced by synthe- 

 sis, independently of organization, 

 we must allow that hypothesis a 

 certain justification which asserts 

 that the simplest forms of life 



have been developed from unorganised matter, in which the same 

 chemical elements occur as are found in organisms. 



Since no fundamental difference has been shown to hold between 

 the matter and force of crystals and those of organised beings, we 

 might look upon the first appearance of life as essentially only the 

 solution of a difficult mechanical problem (with Du Bois Reymond), 

 Avere we not obliged to conclude that there is present even in the 

 simplest and most primitive organisms the germs of sensation and 

 consciousness, attributes which we cannot regard as simply the results 

 of the movement of matter. 



FIG. 3. Schizomycetes (after F. Colin). 

 a, Micrococcus ; I, Bacterium termo, 

 Bacteria found in putrefying bodies 

 both in motile and Zooglaea form. 



