170 THE MECHANISM OF LIFE 



since been fixed by the metamorphism of the primitive rocks, 

 or deposited in the sedimentary strata. Most of the elements 

 in our minerals were formerly in a state of solution in 

 these primeval seas, which contained carbonates, silicates, and 

 soluble phosphates in great abundance. As the crust gradually 

 cooled, the terrestrial atmosphere of necessity altered in com- 

 position, and the slow evolution of the atmosphere no doubt 

 also exercised an influence on the development of living 

 beings. 



Palaeontology teaches us that the earliest living organism 

 appeared in the sea. The most ancient of living things, those 

 of the primary ages, which were of greater duration than all 

 other ages put together, were all aquatic. We find moreover 

 that every living organism consists of liquids, solutions of 

 crvstalloids and colloids separated by osmotic membranes; 

 and it is significant that the ocean, that vast laboratory of 

 life, is also a solution of crvstalloids and colloids. It is 

 evident, then, that we must look to the study of solutions if 

 we would hope to discover the nature and origin of life. 



Life is an ensemble of functions and of energy-transforma- 

 tions, an ensemble which is conditioned by the form, the 

 structure, and the composition of the living being. Life, 

 therefore, may be said to be conditioned by form, i.e. the 

 external, internal, and molecular forms of the living being. 



All living things consist of closed cavities, which are 

 limited by osmotic membranes, and filled with solutions of 

 crvstalloids and colloids. The study of synthetic biology is 

 therefore the study of the physical forces and conditions which 

 can produce cavities surrounded by osmotic membranes, which 

 can associate and group such cavities, and differentiate and 

 specialize their functions. Such forces are precisely those 

 which produce osmotic growths, having the forms and 

 exhibiting many of the functions of living beings. Of all 

 the theories as to the origin of life, that which attributes it 

 to osmosis and looks on the earliest living beings as products 

 of osmotic growths is the most probable and the most 

 satisfying to the reason. 



We have already seen that the seas of the primary and 



