Some Mysteries of Life and Existence 



By R. E. Snodgrass ^ 

 Honorary Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution 



INTRODUCTION 



Tlie anatomists, the cytologists, the embryologists, the physiologists, 

 the biochemists are continually giving us more and more facts about 

 the structure, development, composition, and activities of living things. 

 Yet beyond their farthermost advances there still remains in each 

 phase of life an unresolved mystery. The mysteries of life are the 

 various activities constantly going on in living matter, which can be 

 observed, but cannot yet be explained. 



The universe itself is one vast mystery. All matter, in a last analy- 

 sis, consists of the component particles of atoms — protons, neutrons, 

 and electrons. These are united in about a hundred kinds of known 

 atoms, which combine to form innumerable kinds of molecules, gase- 

 ous, liquid, gelatinous, and solid. It is the energies inherent in these 

 elementary cosmic units that account for all the activities of matter, 

 both inanimate and animate. The final mystery of the universe and of 

 everything in it, then, is the nature and origin of matter. The basis of 

 life in its simplest form is the chemical interaction of certain kinds of 

 molecules when the latter come together in appropriate conditions. 

 Life, therefore, is one with the movements of the stars and the planets, 

 the heat of the sun, radiant energy, volcanic eruptions, and simple 

 chemical reactions, all of which are manifestations of atomic and 

 molecular energies. Wliile this thought greatly simplifies our concept 

 of the universe, it only magnifies the mystery of it all. 



The biologist studies the various phases of life in plants and animals, 

 but generallj'^ he regards it as no part of his science to explain the 

 invisible forces that activate living matter. The general public gives 

 little thought to such subjects. We plant a tiny seed knowing that 

 it will give rise to a plant of the kind from which it came, perhaps a 

 huge tree, for example, which will put out thousands of leaves all 

 essentially alike, and repeat the same year after year. We see all this 

 without emotion, just as we see young animals, or even our own chil- 

 dren, grow up to be adults of their species. Such things are so com- 



^ Dr. Snodgrass died on September 4, 1962. — Editor. 



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