462 CHEMICAL DISCOVEKY AND INVENTION 



the idea that life has existed, if not in this planet, elsewhere, 

 and that it is as old as matter. To account for its appearance on 

 the earth it would be necessary to make a further assumption. 

 Either we must suppose with Lord Kelvin 1 the arrival of a 

 " seed-bearing meteoric stone " from space outside our atmo- 

 sphere, the result of the disruption of some other life-bearing 

 planetary body in consequence of collision or otherwise. Or the 

 hypothesis of panspermia may be accepted. This assumes that 

 the minutest germs of some of the lowest organisms may be small 

 enough to be carried through the cosmical spaces from one world 

 to another, by the pressure of some radiant form of energy. 



In either case there remains no problem for the chemist or 

 physiologist to investigate as to the origin of life. This problem 

 belongs to the field in which the advocates of the other view 

 have long been at work. 



The triumphs of synthetical chemistry during the last forty 

 years which have resulted in the production not only of com- 

 pounds-like formaldehyde containing a small number of atoms 

 and of simple constitution, but substances especially of the protein 

 class containing a very large number of atoms and therefore 

 consisting of large molecules, have encouraged the idea that by 

 similar methods substances of still more complex type may be 

 produced which will resemble the natural colloids or even be 

 found identical with them. 



The " Conclusions " added to the paper, already quoted, by 

 Messrs. Moore and Webster contain the following passages : 



" Such a synthesis 2 occurring in nature probably forms the 

 first step in the origin of life. . . . 



" Without the presence of organic material when life was 

 arising in the world, any continuance of life would be im- 

 possible. 



: ' The process of evolution of simple organic substances having 

 once begun, as now experimentally demonstrated, substances of 

 more and more complex organic nature would arise from these 

 with additional uptake of energy. Later organic colloids would 

 be formed possessing meta-stable properties and these would 

 begin to show the properties possessed by living matter of 

 balanced equilibrium, and up and down energy transformations 

 following variations in environment. 



" There can be little question that such energy changes as arc 



1 Address to British Association. ? Thit of formaldehyde. 



