310 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



ascribed simply to the properties of the matter as it 

 exists in such living things. No one has expressed 

 himself more decidedly on this subject than Prof. Huxley, 

 and he may fairly be taken as an exponent of the 

 modern doctrines on this question. He says l : < Carbon, 

 hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are all lifeless bodies. 

 Of these, carbon and oxygen unite in certain pro- 

 portions and under certain conditions to give rise to 

 carbonic acid ; hydrogen and oxygen produce water ; 

 nitrogen and hydrogen give rise to ammonia. These 

 new compounds, like the elementary bodies of which 

 they are composed, are lifeless. But when they are 

 brought together under certain conditions they give 

 rise to the still more complex body, protoplasm; and 

 this protoplasm exhibits the phenomena of life. I 

 see no break in this series of steps in molecular com- 

 plication, and I am unable to understand why the 

 language which is applicable to any one term of the 

 series may not be used to any of the others. We think 

 fit to call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and nitrogen, and to speak of the various 

 powers and activities of these substances as the pro- 

 perties of the matter of which they are composed. . . . 

 Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, 

 water, and ammonia disappear, and in their place, 

 under the influence of pre-existing protoplasm^ an equivalent 

 weight of the matter of life makes its appearance ? . . . 



1 Article on ' Protoplasm,' in the ' Fortnightly Review ' for February 

 1869. 



