AND ITS INHABITANTS 105 



these elements, which, so far as we know, had never been in 

 combined action before. He states that the thermal condi- 

 tions of present-day living matter point to the probability that 

 this coordinating of the ^'life elements" was initiated when 

 portions at least of the earth's surface and waters had tem- 

 peratures of between 6° and 89° C. and before the atmospheric 

 vapors admitted a regular supply of sunlight. The earliest 

 function of living matter appears to have been to capture and 

 transform the electric energy of the chemical elements char- 

 acteristic of protoplasm, and this power probably developed 

 only in the presence of heat energy derived from the earth or 

 from the sun. Frankly admitting, however, that both the time 

 and place of the origin of life is a matter of pure speculation, 

 in which we have as yet no observations or uniformitarian 

 reasoning to guide us, Osborn advances five hypotheses in 

 regard to it as follows : 



An early step in the organization of living matter was the 

 assemblage of several of the chemical elements essential to 

 life. Of these the four most important elements were ob- 

 tained from their previous combination in water, from the 

 nitrogen compounds of volcanic emanations or from the 

 atmosphere, consisting largely of nitrogen, and from atmos- 

 pheric carbon dioxide. The remaining elements came from 

 the earth. 



Whether or no there was a sudden or a more or less serial 

 grouping of these elements, one by one, Osborn is led to a 

 second hypothesis that "they were gradually bound by a new 

 form of mutual attraction, whereby the actions and reactions 

 of a group of life elements established a new form of unity in 

 the cosmos, an organic unity or organism quite distinct from 

 the larger and smaller aggregations of inorganic matter pre- 

 viously held or brought together by the forces of gravity." 



This leads to the hypothesis that since all living cells are 

 colloidal the grouping of the "life elements" took place in a 



