WHAT IS LIFE? 35 



have also seen how the movements of electrons give rise 

 to magnetic fields, electric waves, heat and visible light 

 and every variety of ether waves. 



"In the blazing sun we picture electrons revolving 

 around myriads of atoms of matter at a great variety of 

 speed. Why electrons go round some kinds of atoms 

 faster than they do around others we shall see later. 

 These electrons in" the far distant sun are producing a 

 great variety of different wave lengths in the ether. We 

 see some atoms giving up one or more detachable elec- 

 trons, which are accepted by other atoms producing a 

 disturbance in their electric balance and causing the atoms 

 to attract one another and become chemically united. In 

 this way we account for the production of all the variety 

 of all the compound substances known." 



This statement by Mr. Gibson will give the reader a 

 general idea of how matter seems to behave to the mind 

 of the scientific man today. It is sufficient to give the 

 reader, who is not familiar with these things, some idea 

 of the nature of matter, at least so far as will be neces- 

 sary to a reasonable understanding for discussion of the 

 question at hand. The reader will see that so far the 

 modes of energy exhibited by force and matter in the uni- 

 verse are not different from those in nature with which we 

 have been heretofore familiar. The atoms and molecules 

 of matter always follow fixed laws. We shall find that 

 the actions of the cell are not those of fixed laws but con- 

 trary to them. He is a master of matter. 



Does light affect the cells chemically or do they merely 

 act as we would under similar circumstances? Mr. Loeb 

 gave the following illustration to prove that certain cells 

 are chemically affected by light: "When we observe a 

 dense mass of copepods collected from a fresh water pond, 

 we notice that some have a tendency to go to the light 



