3. 



That the fundamental life procossss must 

 "be duo, either wholly or partly, to specific 

 chemical structures is generally admitted, hut 

 there is a pr availing opinion that the molecular 

 structures which are necessary for this purpose 

 must be extremiCly complex. The failure of all 

 previous efforts to devise some type of molecular 

 structure which would function in a manner 

 similar to the fundamental life processes does 

 not, hov/ever, prove that the solution of the 

 problem must lie in the direction of extreme 

 complexity. The complex molecular structures 

 of which the higher plants and animals are 

 comiposed have developed gradually in the course 

 of evolution, and the fact that they are necessary 

 for the proper physiological functioning of the 

 particular organisms in vjhich they now occur.;- 

 does not prove that they v^ere also the original 

 cause of the fundamental life processes in the 

 more primitive ^'xrganisms from v/hich these higher 

 plants and animals have developed. If extremely 

 com^plex molecular structur3S v-^ere necessary for 

 life of any sort, then it vfould he highly im- 

 prchabl e that life could ev 3r have originated 

 spontaneously. 



