THE ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER 525 



(united with more of its kind), yielding a carbohydrate {i.e., 

 there are two stages in the process) ; or the carbonic acid is con- 

 verted directly into carbohydrates, formaldehyde as such not 

 being produced {i.e., there is only one stage). These problems 

 are old ones for the botanist in his attempts to understand the 

 chemistry of photosynthesis in the plant. There are other 

 possible criticisms of the experiments of Baly, but whatever the 

 actual facts may be, the underlying thought is a sound one. 

 Only through such experimental work can we ever hope to 

 emulate the living plant and use the sun's energy for the mass 

 production of food. 



Baly planned his experiments along classical lines, for it has 

 always been assumed that the plant produces sugar from carbon 

 dioxide and water, with formaldehyde as a possible intermediate 

 product. Baudisch believes that food manufacture in the 

 plant is more complicated and may involve the immediate intro- 

 duction of nitrogen without sugar being first formed. He also 

 introduces atmospheric nitrogen into the reaction. Botanists 

 have long considered this possibility but have always rejected it, 

 being of the opinion that the limitless supply of nitrogen in the 

 air is not made use of directly by the plant. Baudisch regards 

 atmospheric nitrogen as combining with atmospheric oxygen 

 and water to form nitrosyl which unites with formaldehyde, 

 producing formhydroxamic acid, thus: 



N2 4- O2 + 2H2O = H2O2 + 2(N0)H -> (NO)H -1- CH2O = 



CNO2H3 



It may be that the synthesis of protein in the plant and the 

 synthesis that eons ago led to the formation of living matter do 

 not involve the production of sugar; a nitrogen-containing com- 

 pound, a protein, or a protein derivative may instead have been 

 produced directly from water and carbon dioxide. 



We started our story of the possible origin of living matter on 

 earth with a world in which water and carbon dioxide were 

 already present. E. E. Free takes us back a little earlier and 

 outlines a possible course of the synthesis of the j&rst substance 

 formed. He says that when the earth grew colder, the first 

 chemical compound produced was probably the oxide of titanium, 

 but this is of no known importance to the story of life. The next 

 two compounds were carbon monoxide gas, CO, and either 



