Ti 



94 



THE BEGINNINGS OF II FE. 



supposed "commencement of organic life "^ as of all 

 subsequent developments of organic life. 



It 



IS no 



V 



more needful to suppose an " absolute commencement 

 of organic life," or a "first organism," than it is needful 

 to suppose an absolute commencement of social life 

 and a first social organism.' 



It is of the utmost importance to keep this last 

 consideration clearly in view in discussing the problem^ 



of the origin of Life. 



The labours of the chemists who have succeeded in 



r 

 4 



building up organic compounds in their laboratories 

 now come to our aid. They throw even more than 

 a faint glimmer of light upon the possibilities to which 

 we have just been alluding, since, as Mr. Spencer says, 

 ^ Organic matters are produced in the laboratory by 

 what we may literally call artificial evolution.^ This 

 opinion he explains in the following passage, which we 

 cannot forbear quoting, notwithstanding its apparent 

 technicality. ' Chemists find themselves unable to form. 



he 



says 



'these complex combinations directly from 

 their elements j but they succeed in forming them in- 

 directly, by successive modifications of simpler com- 

 binations. In some binary compound, one element of 

 which is present in several equivalents, a change is 

 made by substituting for one of these equivalents 

 equivalent of some other element; so producing a 

 ternary compound. Then another of the equivalents 

 is replaced, and so on. For instance, beginning with 

 ammonia, NH3, a higher form is obtained by replacing 



an 



II 



oii« 



of the atoi^ 



the 



aucii^g 

 farther 



me 



tl 



acti 



[0h 



stance 

 oiannei' 



there 



IS 



dimethy 



highly 



up. 



Another c 



^anilicant 



T 



generate, by tht 

 rf still greate 

 molecules of 0: 

 a stage higher i 

 acetic acid on 



process 



of sub 



acetic acid in 

 ic, of wh: 



ttiis complex ^ 



ex 



compc 

 ^^% generate 



ofdi 



methyl-am 



Sse then 



the 



*«*^f<ls high 



Ht 



niodifi 



gner 

 catio 



a 



cha 

 %ir 



ion i 



in c 



t 



\^ of 

 oninent 



%{l 



V 



olnti 



lon 



