172 INORGANIC EVOLUTION. [CHAP. 



The marvellous molecular complexity of the so-called simple cell 

 may be gathered from the following formulae for haemoglobin : 



Man ... ... CoooH 9 6oNi54FeiS 3 Oiv9. 



Horse C-^Hnso^wFeiSaOo^-* 



Various different percentage compositions have been given of this 

 protoplasm, but I need not do more than refer to them. It is more 

 important to consider the other chemical substances which go to form 

 it, for there are others besides which it is of interest to study from our 

 stellar point of view. I quote from Mr. Sheridan Lea.f 



" Proteids ordinarily leave on ignition a variable quantity of ash. 

 In the case of egg-albumin the principal constituents of the ash are 

 chlorides of sodium and potassium, the latter exceeding the former in 

 amount. The remainder consists of sodium and potassium, in combina- 

 tion with phosphoric, sulphuric, and carbonic acids, and very small 

 quantities of calcium, magnesium, and iron, in union with the same 

 acids. There may be also a trace of silica" 



Have we here more coincidences 1 or is it that the more one inquires 

 into the chemistry of these things the more we are brought back to 

 our stellar point of view, and to the fact that, taking the simplicity of 

 chemical form as determined by the appearance of these different 

 chemical substances in the hottest stars as opposed to the cooler ones, 

 and in relation to the "series" of spectra which they produce, we 

 come to the conclusion that the first organic life was an interaction 

 somehow or other between the undoubted earliest chemical forms ? 

 Not only have we hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen among the gases 

 common to the organic cell and the hottest stars, but those substances 

 in addition which I have indicated by italics. 



Is it possible that we have here a quite new bond between man and 

 the stars 1 



There is still another point regarding this question of the relation 

 of the two evolutions, inorganic and organic. I refer to the place of 

 organic evolution in regard to inorganic evolution in the scale of time. 

 I do not wish to call too much attention to this diagram, because 

 it is entirely hypothetical ; but it is constructed on the simplest prin- 

 ciples, so that it shall go as little wrong as may be. I begin by 

 drawing a line at the bottom, to represent the zero of temperature ; 

 certain temperature values are indicated on the left-hand side of the 

 diagram. Then we have the assumption that a star loses an equal 

 amount of heat in an equal period of time. In that way, then, 

 at the bottom we have relative times, at the side we have tempera- 



* Verivorn, p. 104. 



f The Chemical Bases of the Animal Body, p. 5. 



