CHAPTER II 



THE SIMPLEST ANIMALS AND PLANTS AND 

 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



LIVING substance, or the matter in which the 

 phenomena of life are manifested, possesses a very 

 highly complex physical and chemical structure, but 

 this complexity is due not to the number and variety 

 of chemical elements which enter into its composition, 

 but to the almost infinite number of combinations 

 which these elements are capable of forming aftfong 

 themselves. The largest and most complex molecules 

 which enter into the composition of living matter, 

 and upon which many of the most essential vital 

 properties are supposed to depend, are the proteids, 

 and these bodies are made up of the elements carbon, 

 hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus. 

 The continuity of life depends upon the possibility 

 of bringing a continual supply of these elements 

 to living matter, and of recombining them into 

 the living substance after they have passed out 

 into the dead world. Living matter is continually 

 wasting away, and its elements are dispersed both 



