IJFE, ITS PHYSICAL BASIS AND SIMPLEST EXPRESSION 45 



nature that just that fortunate coincidence of all necessary con- 

 ditions and elements occurred which allowed C, II, O, X, to unite 

 in those great, almost infinitely complex, molecules which com- 

 pose the alljuminous compounds whose existence is tlie only real 

 chemical characteristic peculiar to living matter. But we have 



Fig. 36. — African or lw..-toed ostrich, Struthio mmrhis. (I'liotograph by William 



Graham.) 



