26 



been produced after a long process of evolution. In the 

 more primitive forms of life which existed before the ap- 

 pearance of chlorophyll, the energy necessary for carry- 

 ing out life processes was probably derived, at least in 

 part, from the oxidation of ferrous bicarbonate, am- 

 monia, hydrogen sulphide, or elementary sulphur. The 

 enormous deposits of bog iron ore probably originated in 

 this manner. Now wherever there is a liberation of en- 

 ergy there is liable to be action of some sort, and it is 

 conceivable that some of the energy resulting from this 

 process of oxidation may have been spent in putting the 

 surrounding fluid into circulation so as to generate small 

 vortices. These, in turn, may have brought more ferrous 

 bicarbonate into the presence of dissolved oxygen, and 

 thus the process may have become self-sustaining. 



Simultaneously with the oxidation of ferrous bicar- 

 bonate there may also have occurred a reduction of car- 

 bon dioxide to formaldehyde, which latter process may 

 have been stimulated by the ultraviolet light from the 

 sun. Iron compounds, in the presence of sunlight, will 

 act photosynthetically in somewhat the same manner as 

 chlorophyll. Any formaldehyde which may thus have 

 been produced would then be likely to polymerize into 

 more complex compounds containing chains of carbon 

 atoms and in the presence of nitrogenous and sulphur 

 compounds these may have organized themselves, first 

 into irregular groups of sulphur-peptide or polypeptide 

 spirals, and later into specific hereditary patterns. 



The possible formation of sulphur-peptide spirals in 

 Herrera's experiments does not exclude the possibilitj'- 

 that ordinary polypeptide spirals may also be formed. 

 It is known that formaldehyde will condense into formose 

 consisting of a chain of — HCOH — groups with a free 

 aldehyde ( — CHO) group at one end, which can be read- 

 ily oxidized to a carboxylic group ( — COOH). Recent 

 experiments with polysaccharides have shown that chains 

 of — HCOH — groups will readily split off water and 



