HOW DID LIFE ORIGINATE? 3 



gate. In view of changed conditions, if a primal biont were now 

 re-formed, we could hardly expect it to survive. 



Considering the origin of life on the basis of mathematical 

 probability alone, the chances that atoms and molecules, in suffi- 

 cient numbers and variety, would gather together to form the 

 relatively enormous mass and exceedingly complicated structure 

 of an elephant, a man, a flea, or even an ameba, are so remote 

 as to be practically nil. But the smaller and simpler the living 

 unit considered, the greater the probability that the atomic and 

 molecular units comprising it might have come together by mere 

 chance. The simplest conceivable living unit, or biont, should 

 therefore be considered as the type most likely to have begun the 

 wonderful development of plants and animals which teem in sea, 

 air, and earth. 5 



But unrestricted probability calculations cannot be applied to 

 a case like this. We have ample evidence from chemistry and 

 physics that only some of the calculable combinations of atoms 

 yield molecules that are both possible and persistent. The work 

 of Svedberg indicates that with larger molecular aggregates, only 

 a few of the many possibilities exist in organisms, the others 

 apparently being impossible or unstable. The physical structure 

 of matter thus weights or "loads" the atomic and molecular "dice" 

 so that only certain combinations actually come into existence. 

 "Out of the inconceivably great number of possibilities in life 

 processes, only relatively few regularly develop, because the 

 results forthcoming are made vastly more probable by factors 

 often going down to the very electronic configurations of atoms 

 themselves.'" 7 



Such considerations call for a modification of the conclusions 

 which Dr. P. Lecomte du Noiiy 8 draws from the probability cal- 

 culations of Professor Charles-Eugene Guye. Since the original 

 living catalyst was able to initiate its own duplication, there is no 

 need to assume the "compound probability" which plagues 

 du Noiiy when he considers the necessity of hundreds of millions 

 of identical molecules. 



What is the probability that a well-shuffled deck of cards will 

 be found to have all the hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs in 

 perfect sequence, and in the suit order named? Vanishingly small, 

 according to mathematical probability calculations. But a like 

 factor of improbability will also apply to any particular sequence 

 that actually does appear. In the case of our hypothetical primary 



