THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE 



tute protoplasm were built up in just the same 

 way in which the lower and more stable aggre- 

 gations of molecules which constitute a single or 

 a double salt were built up. Dynamically, the 

 only difference between carbonate of ammonia 

 and protoplasm which can be called funda- 

 mental is the greater molecular complexity and 

 consequent instability of the latter. We are 

 bound to admit, then, that as carbonic acid 

 and ammonia, when brought intojuxtaposition, 

 united by virtue of their inherent properties as 

 soon as the diminishing temperature would let 

 them, so also carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and 

 oxygen, when brought intojuxtaposition, united 

 by virtue of their inherent properties into higher 

 and higher multiples as fast as the diminishing 

 temperature would let them, until at last living 

 protoplasm was the result of the long-continued 

 process. 



While by following such considerations as 

 these into greater detail the mode in which pro- 

 toplasm must have arisen may by and by be par- 

 tially comprehended, it is at the same time true 

 that the ultimate mystery — the association of 

 vital properties with the enormously complex 

 chemical compound known as protoplasm — 

 remains unsolved. Why the substance proto- 

 plasm should manifest sundry properties which 

 are not manifested by any of its constituent sub- 

 stances we do not know, and very likely we 



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