128 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



look for an absolute barrier between the Living and 

 the not-Jiving. We know nothing of an absolute com- 

 mencement of Life ; we may know some of the lowest 

 living things, as mere specks of almost inconceivable 

 smallness, barely perceptible even by our highest micro- 

 scopic powers but these are even then living organic 

 units. We cannot, however, penetrate further who 

 can describe the primordial collocations? However 

 much we may wish it, we cannot be present at the 

 genesis of Life the veil is still there. The gradual 

 transition from the not-living to the Living is still 

 hidden from our view, and so, perhaps, it may ever 

 remain. 



