28o D. T. MACDOUGAL 



and other states of ionization, due to radioactivity, would all l)e 

 possible factors contributory to a synthesis that might form a 

 beginning of the physical basis of life. Any resulting thermo- 

 catalyzer would be a possible agent for self-organization, and in the 

 development of an organic type its characteristic activities would 

 consist in the degradation, or reduction of the potential energy of the 

 medium or substratum and the oxidation of the acquired substances. 

 Living matter is in fact a thermal engine in which the oxidation is, 

 comparatively, exceedingly slow. 



Fig. I. — Mud-volcanoes of Lower California, in and around which unusual oppor- 

 tunities for chemical combination are offered by the' conditions of temperature and 

 pressure. 



No process observable by a\-ailable physiological methods sug- 

 gests the origination of living matter, yet it seems quite probable 

 that combinations similar, analogous, or even identical with the 

 earliest forms might be produced in the laboratory, in inclosed 

 spaces or under special conditions. Doubtless compounds of much 

 greater intricacy have been made, but while we might make such 

 substances, yet it would be extremely difficult for us to furnish 

 the supply of material and the continuance of conditions which 

 would permit this matter to exercise its initial functions of self- 

 generation to any appreciable extent. The starting of a strain of 



