96 'Can Science Explain Life? 



sition. No matter how many ions have already 

 been deposited electrolytically, there is a con- 

 stant effort to deposit more, even from dilute 

 solutions. The assimilation of food materials 

 by living cells can therefore be explained if it 

 can be shown that such cells can generate electric 

 potentials. It has already been shown that living 

 matter consists of a delicate chemical fabric in 

 which the interstices are of molecular dimen- 

 sions, and it is entirely possible that the inter- 

 stices may be of just such a size as to permit the 

 small positive hydrogen ions to escape, but not 

 the larger negative acid ions. The latter will 

 therefore accumulate within the protoplasmic 

 fabric so as to build up a negative electric poten- 

 tial. 



This negatively electrified protoplasmic fabric 

 will attract and form peptide linkings with the 

 exposed amino acid radicles of any mass of dead 

 protein material in its immediate neighborhood, 

 and when the latter again breaks away it will 

 leave the exposed amino acid groups behind to 

 form parts of the living structure. Any amino 

 acid radicle which is being assimilated will ar- 

 range itself with the amino group directed in- 

 wardly towards the protoplasmic fabric, and with 

 the carboxyl group directed outwardly. Active 

 assimilation therefore takes places only at the 



