AND ITS INHABITANTS 103 



was derived from the nitrogen compounds produced in the 

 atmosphere by lightning, but in any case he thinks the faculty 

 of appropriating the energy of sunshine must have developed 

 at an early period, if not at the very beginning. In the func- 

 tions of life, constructive process precedes destructive, and it 

 therefore seems reasonable to suppose that the earliest forms 

 of life were concerned more in accumulating than in dispersing 

 energy, and that the energy-dispersing organisms, like bacteria 

 and fungi, have had a comparatively late origin. 



Allen's view of the origin of life "implies that the first 

 attempts at life are still continuing, and that if by chance all 

 life were wiped out, another cycle would begin." Such he be- 

 lieves to be the case, and to the question, "Why do we not find 

 evidence of these processes in the form of primitive vital sub- 

 stances in water or elsewhere?" he answers that as soon as any 

 such substances begin to be formed, they are seized and assimi- 

 lated by the already developed organisms. 18 



Troland's enzyme theory. With the increasing realization 

 of the importance of enzymes in the economy of organisms it 

 is not strange that in these chemical bodies has been sought 

 the key to life's origin, and accordingly we find Troland stating 

 that life is something which has been built up about the 

 enzyme. This author assumes that, at some moment in earth 

 history, a small amount of a certain autocatalytic enzyme 

 suddenly appeared at a definite point within the yet warm 

 ocean waters which contained in solution various substances 

 reacting very slowly to produce an oily liquid immiscible with 

 water. If, when this occurred, the enzyme became related to 

 the reaction in such a way as to greatly increase its rate by 

 reducing the chemical friction involved, Troland believes it is 

 obvious that the enzyme would become enveloped in the oily 

 material resulting from the reaction and the little oil drop 

 would increase until it was split into smaller globules by water 



Allen, F. J., op. cit. 



