CONCLUSION 125 



that we may expect to find an explanation of the 

 pathological processes of calcification and deposition 

 of uric acid, or on the other hand the physiological 

 calcification and ossification which occur as a result 

 of the metabolism of the tissues. 



The theory of ions, nascent or unattached meres 

 of substances having an electrical reaction and 

 arising from molecular forms of matter by dissocia- 

 tion, is, from the view taken in the foregoing pages, 

 extremely important. Whether it is possible to 

 construct a working hypothesis of life upon it 

 appears quite probable in the light of recent progress 

 in electro-biology and bio-chemistry. The time has 

 not yet arrived when we can say exactly what life is 

 or what constitutes the difference between dead and 

 living matter, although the question has been con- 

 sidered philosophically for centuries. Important as 

 ionisation is in constructive and destructive pro- 

 cesses there must be something which initiates those 

 processes, some at present unknown cause of their 

 continuance. The riddle of contractility still 

 remains unsolved. What is defined as life is the 

 product of all the forces acting in an organism, but 

 the fons et origo from which these forces are initiated 

 is still an unknown quantity. When a child is fed 

 on milk, the proteins are first split up by the ali- 

 mentary enzymes into ions or some analogous forms 

 of matter in an active state which may be called 

 meres. While in this active condition they are 

 ready for union with other ions, meres, or analogous 

 forms of matter, to construct new protein molecules 

 or to be reduced to a lower grade of chemical con- 

 stitution on their way to urea. When a cell makes 



