LIFE 31 



tion of the ultimate phenomena of life ; and there 

 was the same feeling when the cell was attacked 

 from the chemical side. It would appear that the 

 phenomena of life depended on changes occurring in 

 the interaction of particles of matter far too small 

 to be seen by the microscope. The physicist and 

 chemist explained many phenomena by recourse to 

 the conception of molecules and atoms and by the 

 dynamical laws which regulated their movements. 

 The conception of the existence of molecules in 

 living matter had not escaped many physicists. 

 Probably the germinal vesicle of an ovum contained 

 millions of organic molecules. The conception of 

 physicists was that molecules were more or less in 

 a state of movement ; and the most advanced 

 thinkers were striving towards a kinetic theory of 

 molecules and atoms which would be as fruitful as 

 the kinetic theory of gases. It was conceivable 

 that vital activities might also be determined by 

 the kind of motion that took place in the molecules 

 of living matter. It might be different in kind from 

 that known to physicists. But it was probable that 

 life might be the transmission to dead matter, the 

 particles of which already had a special kind of 

 motion, of a form of motion sui generis" The 

 process of ionisation appears to confer upon matter 

 a movement and a power which does not belong 

 to inert material ; for we find that in electrical 

 conduction it is only the ions which are operative, 

 and the undissociated molecules are inoperative. 



The protoplasm of all animal and vegetable cells 

 is probably of a similar constitution. Water enters 

 largely into its composition. The imbibition of 



