SCIENCE- GOSS/r. 



293 



<lt:c<>m[njsin(; puiiit, wu should expect the curresponcl- 

 iny temperature for silicon com|XJun(ls lo occur when 

 they, too, are in n pasty or semi-IUiiii condition — 

 that is, at a l>ri(;ht red or even a white heal. 



I- roni first principles, indeed, it is very improUihlc 

 that life could exist only within such narrow limits of 

 temperature as are at present prevalent upon the 

 earth. Out of the infinite time that has piussed licfore 

 the world cooled to Its present state, and the ages 

 that still must run ere the world reaches the absolute 

 zero of temperature, is it to be imagined that during 

 only an infinitesimal portion of this time could 

 organised life exist ? To assume that this is the 

 case is to place oneself in the position of those early 

 astronomers who held that the sim and stars and the 

 infinite universe revolved about the earth as centre. 

 Again, there exist in space numlierless vast planets 

 and dark suns, whose physical comlitions differ 

 widely from those which hold sway upon the earth. 

 Are these entirely void of lii'e ? 



I must confess that researches on the behaviour of 

 li<|uids and gases when subjected to enormous 

 pressures and temperatures have always possessed for 

 me a deep significance, on account of the great 

 part substances under such conditions played in the 

 early history of this globe and their possible bearing 

 on the phenomenon of life. Andrews observed that 

 v\hen lii|uid carbon dioxide is gradually heated in a 

 sealed tube to 31° C, the surface of demarcation 

 Ix'tween the lii|uid and gas loses its curvature and at 

 last disiippears. The space is then occupied by a 

 homogeneous fluid, which exhibits, when the pressure 

 is suddenly diminished, or the temperature slightly 

 raised, a peculiar appearance of moving or flickering 

 striae throughout its entire mass. At temperatures 

 above 32" C. no apparent liquefaction or separation • 

 into two distinct forms of matter can be effected, 

 even under a pressure of 300 or 400 atmospheres. 

 There exists for every liquid a temperature called by 

 Andrews the "Critical point," above which no 

 amount of pressure is sufticient to retain it in a liquid 

 form. (See interesting discussion in Preston's 

 " Theory of Heat," pp. 372-39S. ) 



It is obvious that at this transitional point the 

 molecules are in a very sensitive state, and it may 

 be easily conceived that under such enormous tem- 

 peratures and pressures as held upon the earth, a very 

 complex mixture of liquid compounds might be 

 capable of generating these indefinite and tran- 

 sitional compounds, which, as has been hinted, may 

 e.xist in a state of continuous decomposition analogous 

 to that exhibited by the formless and structureless 

 protoplasm. It is obvious that fluidity has much to 

 do with life. All observations in Biology tend to 

 show that the earliest forms of life generated in the 

 flui<l sea and spread thence to land. 



In the same way when the earth was in great 

 measure one large ocean of fluid siliceous matter, 

 could not forms of life generate in this sea also, life 

 thrilling in siliceous not carbonaceous matter? 



.•\s to this purely chemical view of life I would 



refer the reader to Huxley's cssiiy "On the I'hysical 

 Basis of Life," where the milter is argued with con- 

 vincing clearness. Let me <|Uotc his words : " If 

 the phenomena exhibited by water are its properties, 

 so arc those presented by protoplasm, living or dead, 

 its properties. If the properties of water may be 

 properly said to residt from the nature and disposition 

 of its component molecules, I can find no intelligible 

 ground for refusing to say that the properties of pro- 

 toplasm result from the nature and disposition of its 

 molecules." 



Once I had a vision of the beginning of life. I 

 saw the world a vast ocean of liquid fire : alxive, 

 black driving vapoup and vast clouds of steam ; 

 below, the bubbling molten rocks. Down in the 

 depths of that m<jlten sea there was a great heat, a 

 heat unthinkable and inconceivable. I saw that 

 here the atoms no longer attracted each other, but 

 yet the pressure was so enormous that they were 

 crowded together as in a liijuid. Slowly, through 

 the ages, the world cooled. As I watched I saw 

 the formless mass stir and thrill with new kinds of 

 motion, and I knew atomic attraction had com- 

 menced. Feeble compounds flickered into existence 

 in the viist depths and floated, suspended for a moment, 

 and again dissolved to liquid fire. As matter cooled 

 the molten mass became clouded, with innumerable 

 multitudes of such indefinite forms which faded even 

 as they came. In my vision I fancied they were the 

 precursors of the coming life, and perceived thai 

 during this infinite period of slow cooling and under 

 these enormous pressures all kinds of combination 

 and atomic motion were possible. 



As I watched tlie atoms gathered together, and 

 again there sprang into existence another formless 

 compound. I looked for it to decompose, but saw, 

 to my surprise, that though it continually broke down 

 as did the others, yet the motion of its atoms and the 

 surrounding conditions were such that fresh matter 

 Wiis constantly drawn into the molecular vortex and 

 continued its existence. The compound grew and 

 grew, decomposing even as it grew, but gathering in, 

 continually, fresh matter from around. As it became 

 unwieldy it lost its cohesion and scparate<l into masses, 

 which again, in their turn, grew and separated. I 

 now perceived this was the beginning of life. Mean- 

 while, the world cooled and stable compounds ap- 

 peared. Yet this never-ceasing motion of the atoms 

 continued, and drew other elements into the molecular 

 vortex of these primeval forms of life, and they dis- 

 placed the older elements, with fall of temperature, 

 ever producing fresh types. Some of these were caught 

 up into the thick fluid vapours which swept along the 

 molten surface, and, as the ocean slowly condensed as 

 vast boiling masses impregnated with liquid mud, found 

 a fresh lease of life in its fluidity. The rest died with 

 the falling temperature, and their bodies blended with 

 the molten rock, as a jelly-fish dies and blends into the 

 infinite ocean of salt water, so that none can know 

 hereafter that it has been and gone. 



Rcdland, Bristol, December 1899. 



