LIFE 27 



constantly through the clouds and rain descended in torrents. Under 

 these conditions nitrates are conceived to have been produced in rain- 

 water pools due to the discharges of electricity in the water-saturated 

 atmosphere, and ammonia also appeared in volcanic waters. Such 

 conditions favor the growth of bacteria, and Osborn has suggested that 

 the first life may have developed in the form of these minute organisms. 

 Able to make use of inorganic food, very resistant to destructive agencies, 

 and capable of exceedingly rapid multiplication, they were able to main- 

 tain existence and gradually evolved into higher but still simple forms 

 from which both plants and animals have come. This theory suggests, 

 the conditions under which life may have arisen and the nature of the 

 earliest organisms but does not successfully solve the problem of the 

 origin of life. 



Numerous other theories have been proposed, one involving the 

 development first of ferments and then, under the influence of these 

 ferments, the organization of living matter. Another theory is that an 

 inherent tendency exists for simple compounds, under proper conditions, 

 to unite themselves together and form more complex compounds and 

 that as a consequence of this tendency, and in a favorable environment, 

 protoplasm was gradually built up or synthesized out of the various com- 

 pounds which it contains. 



None of these theories has proved satisfactory to biologists generally, 

 and it must be confessed that at this time it is not possible to explain how 

 life on this earth originated. That life must have appeared at a time 

 when conditions were favorable goes without saying, but most biologists 

 believe that at only one time in the history of the earth has there been 

 such a fortunate concomitance of favorable conditions as to bring about 

 this creation. From the life created at that time all living things which 

 have ever existed on this earth have descended. 



36. Possibility of Creating Life. — The creation of life by human agency 

 has been the dream of men in the past, and the idea will surely continue to 

 be entertained in ages still to come. In the present state of human 

 knowledge, however, a realization of the dream seems to be out of the 

 question. It appears hardly probable that the conditions which existed 

 on the surface of the earth at the time when life first originated will ever 

 be repeated in the laboratory. Theoretically it would be possible to 

 assemble in the proper proportions those substances which exist in 

 protoplasm, but the crucial thing— the bringing about of the organization 

 which exists in living matter — seems beyond human power when the 

 limitations under which men work are considered. Yet the idea is con- 

 ceivable and efforts to bring it to fulfillment will probably never cease so 

 long as the human race continues to exist. 



