^/■£. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



19 



rather, we should wish to convey the idea, that a par- 

 "g that be ' ^icular aggregation of matter had been brought about, 



of such a land as to enable it to manifest the properties 



^^^ceivedj. 



ife 



) 



' H h 



^y Itself 



f^yhas 



5 



% 



Pfopeit; 



1' 



^ Its molecu! 

 we know it t 



of a Living Thing, properties which are expressed in 

 their generality by the word '^Life.' Philosophically 

 speaking, therefore, there can be no abrupt line of 

 demarcation between the living and the not-living. 

 Living things are peculiar aggregates of ordinary 

 matter and of ordinary force which in their separate 



en classed t| states do not possess the aggregate of qualities known 

 >jects aroundi as 'Life/ The transition must be most gradual, there- 

 of devebb: fore, between some of the ordinary not-living states 



possessing sue ^^ ^^^ese and the formation of those particular colloca- 



d ' Living' k 

 as a mentals;: 



tibns which constitute them living things. 'Construed 



says^, 'every 



m terms 



Mr 



es 



kind of being is conceived as a product of modifica- 



tions wrought by insensible gradations on a 



pre- 



operti 



he member I 



• ^ do not F ^^^^*^"S ^^^^ o^ being:' to which we will only add, 



^^ - that the physical forces expending themselves in bring- 



ing about any particular collocation manifest them- 

 selves anew in the properties which this displays. 



as much f Omnia mutantur : nihil Interlt. ks, Dumas 2 has said, 

 of the ^1 there is an ' eternal round in which death is quickened 



the proP^^'^'; ^^^ Life appears, but in which matter merely changes 



nay 



ire, but it 



J re 



il are 



the rf^ its place and form.' 



on 



of the Jt;' 



Hence 

 lOtbe 



in 





* Appendix to 'Principles of Biology.' 

 =* ' Chemical and Physiological Balance 



C 

 t 



SUpr ' (Translation), p. 48. 



of Organic Nature/ 1844 







