146 



THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 



presence of a calcified or silicated fungus we can no longer 

 argue with certainty as to the existence of life, without taking 

 into consideration the possibility that the specimen in question 

 may be an osmotic production. 



Whatever our opinion as to its signification, osmotic 



Fig. 60. — A group of osmotic plants. 



growth demands the attention of every mind devoted to the 

 study of nature. It is a marvellous spectacle to see a formless 

 fragment of calcium salt grow into a shell, a madrepore, or a 

 fungus, and this as the result of a simple physical force. 

 Why should the study of osmotic growth attract less attention 

 than the formation of crystals, on which so much time and 

 labour has been bestowed in the past? 



