X 



PRE FA CE. 



/ 



it still comes into being, in fact, by the operation of 

 the same laws, and in the same manner as the majority 

 of scientific men and a large section of the educated 

 public believe that it must have originated in the early 

 days of the earth's history — when 'living' compounds 

 first began to appear upon the cooling surface of our 

 planet. And if such synthetic processes took place then, 

 why should they not take place now ? Why should the 

 inherent molecular properties of various kinds of matter 

 have undergone so much alteration ? Why should these 

 particular processes of synthesis now be impossible, 

 although other processes of a similar nature still 



f 



go on? 



Whilst no attempt has ever been made to justify 

 or explain such a supposed arbitrary curtailment of 

 natural laws, it happens most fortunately that the 

 ascending series of molecular combinations, to which 

 we have already referred, does not end with the birth 



of ' living ' matter. Steps which were previously beyond 



an 



algoid 



nature may actually be seen to fuse and 

 become altered externally, whilst they undergo those 

 obscure and mysterious molecular re-arrangements 



Visible p 



serve 



by 



arise. 



invisible 



rearr 



the reach of our senses, become, in some newly-dis- 

 covered terms of the series, capable of ocular demon- 

 stration. Whilst invisible colloidal molecules are sup- 

 posed to combine and undergo re-arrangements in order 

 to produce specks of new-born living matter, such 

 specks of living matter may be actually seen to com- 

 bine, fuse, and undergo molecular re-arrangements so 

 as to lead to the origin of Fungus-germs, of Amoebx, 

 of Monads, or of Ciliated Infusoria j and, in the same 

 manner, larger and still more complex living units of I ^|^d in p^. 



Sot] 



complex ph 

 ^e should 

 rence of the 

 cially wher 

 probabilitie 



Again, w 



exist in dii 

 cally-simila 



exist in t^ 

 differences 



or arsenic, 

 different a| 

 alteration i 

 as mercuric 

 mode of cr 

 for us to I 



comparativ 

 cular 



also entail 



attributes . 

 of fact, we 

 ;enetic Tr 



1 m 



almost as 



^Ot-livina 



