50 Life: Its Nature and Origin 



We mentioned earlier that certain properties of energy transfer 

 theoretically require a highly oriented system of water molecules 

 and that such mechanisms have apparently been demonstrated in 

 living systems ( Szent-Gyorgi, 1956). Proteins and similar organic, 

 highly organized molecular substances have such an orienting 

 ability when in aqueous colloidal solutions. Each colloidal particle 

 is surrounded by highly oriented water molecules which are held 

 in place by electrostatic forces generated by various parts of the 

 colloidal particle. In mixtures of mutually attracted (oppositely 

 charged ) colloid particles such as the protamine clupein and nucleic 

 acid, the particles may clump to form tiny cell-like droplets called 

 coazervates, much like Fox's spherules, each droplet surrounded by 

 a rigidly delimited membrane of highly oriented water molecules 

 (Oparin, 1938). 



It is, of course, a long step from a simple primeval system like 

 that just described to one embodying growth and division, followed 

 by exact replication of the mother cell by the daughters. But the 

 raw ingredients are all there, including the possibility of a primitive 

 nucleo-protein which on division could conceivably release enzymes 

 embodying precise peptide or nucleotide arrangements that would 

 repeat exactly the anabolic pathways of their parents. For these 

 reasons, the thermal origin of pre-life compounds is a field offering 

 great possibilities for further investigation. 



Nutrients 



Three environmental circumstances make a thermal hypothesis of 

 the origin of life especially attractive. First, S. L. Miller's experiments 

 (1953) indicate that the ocean would have a continuing supply of 

 amino acids and other organic substances resulting from the action 

 of ultra-violet light and electric discharge on the components of 

 the atmosphere. Second, if Rubey (1955) and Fox (1957) are 

 correct, the ocean would receive through fissures in its floor a con- 

 tinual supply of many biological staples and macromolecules formed 

 in the passage of gas mixtures from the interior of the earth through 

 the crust. The proto-organisms and primeval organisms would need 

 a continuous food supply to persist indefinitely, and these two 

 sources would provide it. Finally, the sea contained in solution the 

 many inorganic radicles ultimately incorporated into living systems. 



