12 BIOLOGY 



common alike to tlie living and the non-living. Lecluc 

 claims to have been able to reproduce all the features 

 of so complex a process as Karyokinesis by purely inor- 

 ganic substances, and the researches of Loeb seem to 

 show that such a vital phenomenon as fertilisation is 

 no longer necessary, for development can be brought 

 about by purely chemico-physical means. 



The chemical constitution of living matter, even that 

 of the nucleus itself, all point towards the belief that the 

 synthesis of living matter may soon be carried out. 



Looking now at the evolution of living matter by the 

 light which is shed upon it by the evolution of matter 

 in general, there must have been a gradual process of 

 change from material which was lifeless to material 

 which has all the characteristics of what we call living 

 matter. Now this gradually evolved material may have 

 been in the form of minute ultramicroscopic particles, 

 and so no traces of it are found in the geological 

 record. 



Many of the supporters of this view believe that 

 evolution did so take place, but that there was only one 

 period in the earth's existence at which this was possible, 

 a period when conditions of heat and the solubility of 

 substance were more favourable to the formation of 

 complex substances than they are at the present time. 



Let us briefly consider the steps in this evolution of 

 living matter. The inorganic materials on the earth are 

 constantly undergoing transition ; new chemical com- 

 binations are being formed, old broken up, and it is 

 during some of these changes that the first steps were 

 taken towards the evolution of living matter. As 

 living matter always requires water, the first step must 



