

72 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



definition of the meaning of such a general abstr 

 term. The time is, moreover, well-nigh passed wh 

 much importance can be attached to attempts to defi 

 'Life/ Such an end might have had more attractio 

 for those who looked upon Life as the manifestation of 

 an independent 'principle' or entity, but it is certainly 

 far less important for those who look upon the word 

 ' Life' as a mere name connoting a set of attributes 

 which belong to all living things. Believing this to be 

 true, believing that anything which can be called 

 Life, or the 'principle' of Life, has no more a separate 

 and independent existence in the world than that 



r 



'blackness' has any real existence apart from a thin 

 possessing this quality, it would seem that the reader 

 would be likely to derive clearer notions of the nature 

 of Life, if in place of the definition of this abstract 

 name, we were to substitute the definition of a Living 

 Thingi. This should be done in such general terms 

 that— although the definition may be in itself distinctive 

 and only applicable to the objects in question— all things 

 manifesting this set of properties connoted by the word 

 ' Life' may, nevertheless, be included under it. Such 

 a definition of a Living Thing might stand as follows : 





the 



Every abstract name must, in fact, include in its signification .- 

 existence of some object to which the quality, of which it is the name, 

 belongs. And inasmuch as no Life can exist without an organism, of 

 which it IS the phenomenal manifestation, so it seems comparatively 

 useless to attempt to define this phenomenal manifestation alone-and 

 what IS worse, such attempts may tend to keep up the idea that Life is 

 an independent entity. 



\ 



\ 



>nS ^y " 



iieW 

 tiou 



matter 



wl 



in its 



ally varyif 



by the separat 

 It is one o\ 



the consequei 

 leculeSj the 



mo 



influence of s^ 

 disintegrate : 



matter. It w 

 tion principal 



' M. Nicolet, ii 

 of these creature 

 by Professor Hai 

 living things, 

 consideree 



sa^ 



comm 



i^atiere organique 



•^^ la vie; point ( 

 Pl^t5t animale 



cellule 



qu 



S) rien de 



He 



pendant elle 



^''^'^'^ dans to; 

 'P^^H elle di< 



."L'Amibe 



^^P^^illee de 



■ 



n 



■Sirij 



'racti 



sa 



Pr^ 



on;. 



^ence 



' Area 



