224 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



This is another fine example of a type of 

 energy transformation never witnessed any- 

 where else than in living structures. So is 

 also the long series of co-ordinated cell 

 divisions and reproductions in the growing 

 embryo, and the origin in unfailing sequence 

 from one cell of all the many kinds of cell and 

 tissue found in a higher plant or animal. 

 The fertilized ovum of one mammal is struc- 

 turally indistinguishable from that of another, 

 and contains in it nothing representative of 

 the many diverse structures that are destined 

 to arise in course of development. 



But the colloids possess specific differences, 

 and it is initially inhabited by a form of energy 

 unknown outside life processes, which leads 

 the mazy dance of life from point to point, 

 each new development furnishing a starting 

 point for the next one. A specific colloidal 

 structure, with a definite energy distribution 

 at each stage, forms the opening for the 

 next stage. It has been seen that each 

 structural variation in matter means a 

 different energy distribution, and to deny 

 that the energy distributions in living matter 

 are different in type from those inhabiting 

 inorganic matter would be as absurd as to 

 deny that different energy forms exist in the 

 inorganic world, each characterized by its 



