THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



Serial '^^ 



^^^ law 



83 



scope was found to be as nearly as possible what it 

 would have been had it appeared solely under the old 



le 



<^hemist. 



rjv. name of ' Organic Chemistry/ 



\ 



Thus the Matter of living things^ the combinations 



•'^^ already, which they are capable of producing, have no distin- 

 ^^^^ ^Onipoii.: guishing peculiarity — they can be built up by the che- 

 >t is swelled t ™^^^ ^^ ^-^^^ laboratory — the mysterious agency of Life is 



of thes 

 t>^tween 0:-:- 



e cc: 



now 



no longer all essential. 



This knowledge is a 



ii<hing^hasj \ 

 y these nameic 



great gain to science, and it harmonizes well with 

 our conclusion in the last chapter, that there is no 

 evidence whatever for a belief in the existence of 

 a peculiar ^ vital force "^ — a something independent of 

 ^ ^ ' ' matter, and not convertible with the ordinary physical 



irable stiUtopc 



al compouni^E j^ ^m ^^^ 1^^ necessary for us to furnish some 

 ,^ it must bedi! explanations as to the nature and composition of 

 n and distill^ organizable matter in general — of those substances in 



fact which enter into the composition of living things 

 and in so doing we shall avail ourselves freely of the 



forces. 



f the group, ^ 



or pte' 



name 



T erous su--* writings of those who are best entitled to speak on the 



cm seems 



50 tl subject. 



m 



ds na 



med''^ 



con 



stituent, 



or 



lac 



four, 



,0 



cd ufl'J^f 

 ,a Since broo? 



^ 



L 





ler 



Organizable matter always contains, as principal and 

 fundamental ingredients, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, 

 and nitrogen, and to these are often added traces of 

 sulphur and phosphorus. The first four elements are, 

 however, all-essential, and it is especially worthy of 

 remark that no less than three of them are gaseous. 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer says^: — 'When we remember 



1 ' Principles of Biology," vol. i. chap, i., ' Organic Matter.' This and 



G Z 



