18 



THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIFE 



This influence of the colloidal state on the chemical state, 

 and the reciprocal influence of the chemical state on the 

 colloidal state, seem to be the rule in living colloids. The 

 fact may be expressed more clearly in the copious terms 

 of equilibrium terms which, since the admirable studies 

 of Willard Gibbs, promise to become some day the language 

 of universal mechanics. 



Let us consider three spherules A, B, C, in suspension in 

 the solvent D of a colloid. We may consider the equili- 

 brium of the system, either from the colloidal point of view, 

 that is, from the point of view of the relations of position 



of the spherules A, B, C with each 

 other, or from the point of view of 

 the osmotic and chemical ex- 

 changes which take place between 

 each of the spherules and the sol- 

 vent (Fig. 1). 



If the chemical reactions take 

 place between the particles and the 

 solvent, the result may be this or 

 that variation, of electrical order 

 for example, bringing the particles nearer together, and so 

 a modification of the chemical equilibrium will bring with 

 it a corresponding modification of the colloidal equili- 

 brium. Reciprocally, if some influence capable of modi- 

 fying directly the colloidal equilibrium should force the 

 particles A, B, C nearer together, this might result in 

 a modification of the osmotic and chemical equilibrium 

 existing between these particles and the solvent. 



Any agent, acting directly on a colloid, may exert influ- 

 ence according to its own dimension, either on the colloidal 

 equilibrium or on the chemical equilibrium existing between 

 the particles and the solvent ; but as these two orders of 



FIG. 1. 



