432 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



congratulated. Had the natural tendency to the for- 

 mation of living compounds in certain solutions been 

 much less potent than it seems to be 1 , the problem to 

 which we have been referring could never have been 

 solved. As it is, that which we are absolutely com- 

 pelled to believe takes place within the closed flasks, 

 may illuminate our mental vision concerning all the 

 richer probabilities which are possibly being realized 

 from moment to moment in such freer sites as ponds, 

 lakes, rivers, and ocean beds. 



Looking, however, again at the experimental aspects 

 of the question, it will be easily understood that by 

 increasing the stringency of the c conditions,' we may 

 ultimately succeed in stifling the voice of nature. 



That combination of properties which we generalize 

 and include under the word c Life ' being the result of a 

 fine and subtle molecular combination in the matter 

 by which it is manifested, it is easy to understand 

 that a certain amount of heat may be adequate to 

 destroy these more delicate combinations, and so 

 put an end to the c vital' manifestations with which 

 they are associated. Such is the action of heat when 

 it just suffices to convert a living thing into a dead 

 organism. Though it is no longer living, however, 

 though, in common parlance, its c life' has departed 

 the body may still remain as an organic aggregate. 

 If allowed to continue in water, it gradually disin- 

 tegrates, and becomes more or less dissolved yielding 

 1 See Vol. ii. pp. 27-32. 



