l.VJ ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE m 



strange phenomena, the properties of the water, 

 and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some 

 way or another, they result from the properties of 

 the component elements of the water. We do not 

 assume that a something called " aquosity " entered 

 into and took possession of the oxidated hydrogen 

 as soon as it was formed, and then guided the 

 aqueous particles to their places in the facets of 

 the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the hoar- 

 frost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and 

 in the faith that, by the advance of molecular 

 physics, we shall by and by be able to see our way 

 as clearly from the constituents of water to the 

 properties of water, as we are now able to deduce 

 the operations of a watch from the form of its parts 

 and the manner in which they are put together. 



Is the case in any way changed when carbonic 

 acid, water, and nitrogenous salts disappear, and 

 in their place, under the influence of pre-existing 

 living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the 

 matter of life makes its appearance ? 



It is true that there is no sort of parity betwci-n 

 the properties of the components and the properties 

 of the resultant, but neither was there in the case 

 of the water. It is also true that what I have 

 spoken of as the influence of pre-existing living 

 matter is something quite unintelligible ; but dors 

 anybody quite comprehend the modus operandi of 

 an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of 

 oxygen and hydrogen ? 



