July, 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



147 



silica of the molten earthy sea would also enter very 

 largely into the composition of the life which flourished 

 at the time when the earth's surface was a red or white 

 hot mass of molten rock. Let me now quote some 

 other facts which make it probable that as the thermal 

 conditions of the earth altered there was a correspond- 

 ing alteration in the composition of living matter, the 

 denser and less volatile elements steadily solidifying 

 out and their places being filled by analogous lighter 

 and more volatile elements. 



Albumen contains a small quantity of loosely-bound 

 sulphur which does not appear to be a very intimate 

 constituent of it. No one knows the function of this 

 sulphur; according to my theorj' it is simply lingering 

 on, the relics of a time when it almost entirely replaced 

 oxygen in the organism. As the temperature of the 

 living matter fell, the sulphur was superseded by the 

 lighter and more volatile oxygen, and consequently 

 the sulphur which remains is merely an inert mass in 

 the process of elimination, separating out on account 

 of its heaviness, in exactly the same way I have sup- 

 posed silicon to have separated out in previous ages. 



Much the same applies to phosphorus in the tissues 

 of the brain and nerves. It has almost entirely been 

 replaced by the lighter and more mobile nitrogen. 

 The small amount of phosphorus remains mainlv be- 

 cause it can perform functions of which nitrogen is 

 incapable. Not only is this so, but traces of a still 

 heavier member of the same group of elements — arsenic 

 — have been recently found in certain animals, where it 

 partially replaces the phosphorus in nucleinic matter.* 



In these cases, then, we have a whole chain of chemi- 

 cal analogous elements replacing each other in continu- 

 ally decreasing amounts as thev increase in heaviness. 

 Thus : — 



(■Nitrogen (at wgt. 74) abundant. 



J Phosphorus (at wgt. 31) less abundant. 



I Arsenic (at wgt. 75) minute traces. 



(Oxygen (at wgt. i6) abundant. 



J Sulphur (at wgt. 32) less abundant. 



(Selenion (at wgt. 79) minute traces, if at all. 



(Carbon (at wgt. 12) abundant. 

 1 Silicon (at wgi. 28) traces. 



These facts favour our supposition that the presence 

 in protoplasm of elements having a high atomic weight 

 are the links which connect the gradually-evolved 

 protoplasm of to-day with the molten minerals of the 

 past. It is very probable, I think, that in many cases 

 formerly abundant elements have ceased to perform 

 any vital function and solely remain as witnesses to the 

 process of evolution, much as the gills on the neck of 

 an embryonic babe bear witness to the aqueous origin 

 of its ancestors. In some cases, perhaps, they are 

 retained on account of the fact that they can be put to 

 useful purposes by being substituted for their lighter 

 chemical analogues, in order to modify the functioning 

 of certain definite organs by reason of certain specific 

 needs. Such would be selenion in place of sulphur; 

 negative sulphur substituted for oxvgen; Cu, Zn, or 

 Mn replacing iron; P, As, or even Va itself playing the 

 part of nitrogen in the atomic complexes which make 

 up protoplasm. The whole problem of the secretion of 

 mineral matter by living beings is ably explained by 

 supposing the mobile protoplasm of to-day evolved in a 

 continuous matter from the molten minerals of the past. 



By adopting this conception the range of world life 

 would widen magnificently out from the few billion 



' Gautier, Chem. Nra's, March 23rd, 1900. 



years of Lord Kelvin to countless billions of years, 

 when the world was a white hot globe and its surface 

 a sea of rolling fire. From first principles, indeed, it 

 is very improbable that life could exist only within such 

 narrow limits of temperature and pressure such as are 

 at present prevalent upon the earth. Out of the almost 

 infinite time which has passed before the world cooled 

 to its present state, and the ages that still must run ere 

 the world reaches the absolute zero of temperature, is 

 it to be imagined that during an only infinitesimal por- 

 tion of this time could organised life exist? To assume 

 this is to place oneself in the position of those early 

 astronomers who held that the sun and stars and the 

 infinite universe itself revolved about the earth as 

 centre. 



Again, are we to assume that out of an unknown, but 

 probably enormous, number of elements, only some four 

 namely, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, are 

 capable of producing vital matter? When we study 

 the properties of these four elements and compare them 

 w'ith those of other known elements we find that there 

 is absolutely nothing which inherently distinguishes 

 them from the other elements. Every property 

 possessed by them is shared to a greater or less extent 

 by the other elements also. Why, then, should we 

 imagine that only these four elemants can give rise to 

 living matter? Why they enter so largely into the 

 constitution of living matter upon this earth is probably 

 a pure accident of temperature and pressure. They 

 merely happen to possess the proper degree of volatility 

 and the capacity for exerting chemical forces of the 

 requisite intensity, which make them somewhat more 

 adapted than the other elements to enter into the con- 

 stitution of living matter under those particular tem- 

 perature and pressure conditions which hold upon the 

 earth. But vi'e know that the chemical properties ex- 

 hibited bv an element alter very considerably with the 

 temperature and pressure conditions under which it is 

 viewed. Indeed, it has been suggested* that by alter- 

 ing the external conditions upon which we view an 

 element, we can make it assume in succession the vari- 

 ous chemical conditions which the various other ele- 

 ments find themselves in at ordinary temperatures and 

 pressures. If this be so, it is ditficult to avoid the infer- 

 ence that under other external conditions, other ele- 

 ments would so change their nature as to become 

 capable of entering into the structure of living matter, 

 although under ordinary temperatures and pressures 

 they are quite incapable of so doing. 



Sweeping through space are myriads of vast planets, 

 countless swarms of mighty white hot globes and 

 dark suns, whose physical conditions differ utterly from 

 those which hold sway upon the earth. Surely these 

 are not devoid of life? Nay, on such mighty globes 

 life exists on a far grander scale of creation than any- 

 thing that we can conceive of; life utterly different in 

 form and motion to that which exists on our puny 

 earth, and even composed, perhaps, out of entirely 

 different elements to those which compose the living 

 matter of world life. 



Life is old, old as the universe itself. It has always 

 existed generally throughout the universe in some form 

 or other, and always will exist, no matter what happens 

 to our little earth. The protoplasm of the earth is but 

 the product of evolution of untold ajons of ages, 

 coming down to us in an unbroken line from ages when 

 the world was a vast liquid globe of white hot mat erial. 



'Chemical News, Oct. 14th, 1904. See also the author's work 

 ,. Researches on the Affinities of the Elements," p.p. 206-225. 



