FISH 



A KEY WEST, Florida, the first cabana on the beach 

 served as our laboratory. Benches inside this im- 

 provised laboratory held our small scales and supplies. Our 

 large scales swung over the eaves. On the porch stood two 

 barrels filled with formalin solution, and on the smooth 

 sands stood our 8-foot dissecting table. 



As we looked out upon the ocean and beheld vivid light- 

 ning pierce the sea and contemplated the constant stream 

 of electrons striking the sea and the land and when we 

 observed the clear sky, the tropical sunlight, with its ultra- 

 violet rays, we visualized the untold numbers of nitro- 

 gen fixations continually taking place through lightning, 

 showers of free electrons, and ultraviolet light. 



Just as the roots of plant life and Azotobacter utilize the 

 nitrates in the soil, so plant life in the sea utilizes nitrates. 

 Sea water contains in solution all the metals contained in 

 the soil. The sea is soil in solution, and to this soluble soil, 

 as in the case of the land, there is constantly being added 

 fixed nitrogen in the form of nitrates. 



The nitrates in the sea could well form organic molecules 

 as basic food for ultramicroscopic forms. These ultra- 

 microscopic units of plant and animal life would then be 

 subject to struggle and survival, building up living units 

 of increasing size and of increasing power until such a unit 

 would be large enough to be classed as a "lowest" form. 



The varieties of plants and animals would seem to be as 

 inevitable as are the physical differences in the variables of 

 temperature and moisture, and evolution of the energy- 

 controlling organs would seem to be as inevitable as the 

 evolution of teeth and bones and hair and special senses. 

 When a river overflows its banks, it is no surprise that the 

 power of gravity fills every depression: equally, it is no sur- 

 prise that the force of sunlight and lightning fills every energy 



in 



