THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 13 



have been one in which some colloidal form was evolved ; 

 it may have been ultramicroscopic colloidal particles. 

 Now all colloidal material has the tendency to divide 

 when it has reached a certain size, and so this colloidal 

 slime would have one of the properties of living matter. 

 As the separated parts have the same properties as the 

 parent the process would go on, growth would take place, 

 and it would be followed by reproduction. From this 

 point it is quite easy to imagine that there was the segre- 

 gation of more highly phosphorised material which, in 

 the course of generations, gradually assumed the form of 

 a definite nucleus, and all the subsequent stages in the 

 evolution would be quite simple. 



We have stated the current belief as to the origin of 

 life, and sketched briefly and roughly the stages in that 

 evolution. Have we any evidence to justify the belief 

 that living matter is being evolved at the present time- 

 as many believe ? It entirely depends on what we mean 

 by life and living matter. If we agree with Bastian 

 and especially with Burke, then there are forms of living 

 matter, so simple that we do not recognise them as such, 

 constantly coming into being, passing out of existence 

 and leaving no trace behind them, as the power of repro- 

 duction is possible only at a much later stage in their 

 evolution. 



With regard to this view of the origin of life, in our 

 opinion it has failed to explain many of the features of 

 living matter by purely physical and chemical laws. 

 Yet we do not wish anyone to go away with the idea that 

 this is impossible ; all we mean is that up to the present 

 they have failed to do so, and that even if in the course of 

 a few generations they may show that living matter has 



