SPECULATIONS UPON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 647 



activity. These centres may not be visible under any circum- 

 stances. Prof. Armstrong, in a previous number of Science 

 Progress, described from the chemist's point of view how • 

 conditions under which matter of the nature of protoplasm 

 might have arisen. He spoke of " nuclei " arising but he uses 

 the term, I understand, in the way I use "centres of activity" 

 here. At any rate, I am afraid that biologists are likely to be 

 misled by a term which means to them something so very 

 different from what I understand is intended. 



Knowing very little about enzymes, I am inclined to throw 

 the next step in our advance in the knowledge of the origin of 

 life upon them. Many if not all the phenomena connected with 

 life appear to be dependent upon their presence. It is for 

 the chemists to tell us of enzymes, which must certainly 

 be intimately connected with those centres of activity which 

 make the difference between living and dead protoplasm. 



