Chapter 1 



How Did Life Originate? 



Regardless of how greatly we may differ as to explanations of 

 its origin, life is an accomplished fact. H. E. Richter 1 and Svante 

 Arrhenius, 2 dodged the whole question of the origin of life by 

 suggesting that living spores — "seeds of being," Arrhenius called 

 them — reached the earth from outer space, impelled by "light- 

 pressure" which James Clerk Maxwell had shown to be an impor- 

 tant factor affecting the tails of comets. E. Pfiuger 3 pointed out 

 the analogies between proteins and cyanogen compounds, and 

 suggested that living matter (protoplasm) arose from cyanogen and 

 other carbon compounds, which formed as the earth cooled. The 

 view is even now commonly expressed that "protoplasm" arose in 

 the "primordial oceanic ooze," when the warm oceans were blan- 

 keted by heavy mists and an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. 



The following definition of protoplasm appeared in "Encyclo- 

 pedia Britannica:" 4 "A substance, composing wholly or in part 

 all living cells, tissues or organisms of any kind, and hence re- 

 garded as the primary living substance, the physical and material 

 basis of life. ... A living organism of any kind whatsoever may be 

 regarded as composed of (1) protoplasm, (2) substances or struc- 

 tures produced by this protoplasm, either by differentiation of the 

 protoplasm itself, or by the excretory or secretory activity of living 

 substance." The total inadequacy of this definition led me to 

 remark: 5 "Although isolated protoplasm may maintain activity 

 for a short time under suitable conditions, it is incapable of self- 

 reproduction, and should be regarded rather as a highly specific 

 milieu in which the real, living self-reproductive units of cells 

 exist and function. The concept of protoplasm as the ultimate 

 'living jelly' is a relic of antiquated text-books and should be 

 definitely abandoned. The modern concept of protoplasm em- 

 braces the cytoplasm with its included nuclear and other par- 

 ticulate units." 



