LIFE AND MIND 



warm and moist, the atmosphere saturated with 

 watery vapor and carbon dioxide and many other 

 complex unstable compounds; then they summon 

 all the material elements of life — carbon, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and nitrogen, with a little sodium, chlor- 

 ine, iron, sulphur, phosphorus, and others — and 

 make these run together to form a jelly-like body 

 called a colloid; then they endow this jelly mass with 

 the power of growth, and of subdivision when it gets 

 too large; they make it able to absorb various un- 

 stable compounds from the air, giving it internal 

 stores of energy, "the setting free of which would 

 cause automatic movements in the lump of jelly." 

 Thus they lay the foundations of life. This carbo- 

 naceous material with properties of movement and 

 subdivision due to mechanical and physical forces 

 is the immediate ancestor of the first imaginary liv- 

 ing being, the protobion. To get this protobion the 

 chemists summon a reagent known as a catalyser. 

 The catalyser works its magic on the jelly mass. It 

 sets up a wonderful reaction by its mere presence, 

 without parting with any of its substance. Thus, if 

 a bit of platinum which has this catalytic power is 

 dropped into a vessel containing a mixture of oxy- 

 gen and hydrogen, the two gases instantly unite and 

 form water. A catalyser introduced in the primor- 

 dial jelly liberates energy and gives the substance 

 power to break up the various complex unstable 

 compounds into food, and promote growth and sub- 



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