36 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



soda or in one of citrate of iron and ammonia this 

 difficulty is considerably mitigated if we steadfastly 

 remember that living organisms are capable of grow, 

 ing and multiplying in similar solutions. This fact 

 that growth and multiplication can take place at 

 the expense of the elements of the saline solution 



/ 



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shows that under a certain influence — that of the pre- 

 existing living matter — the elements of the saline 

 solution are capable of reacting in such a manner as to 

 fall into new modes of combination, whereby they give 

 rise to ^living' compounds. Now we must again contend 

 that as no special or peculiar forces are at work within 

 pre-existing organisms,, the molecular movements con- 

 stituting their ^life" must be determined purely by 

 natural affinities, so that they can only exert an action 

 which is essentially chemical upon the molecules of the 

 matter with which they are brought into contact. If, 

 then, under the influence of these chemical actions the 

 molecules of the saline substances undergo a rearrange- 

 ment and combination whereby they are converted into 

 living protoplasm, we are compelled to assume the 

 truth of what appears (as we have already said) to be 

 on other grounds so probable, that there is a natural 

 aptitude for the disturbed molecules of the saline sub- 

 stances to fall into such modes of combination. The 

 facts revealed by our experiments compel us to believe^ 

 moreover, that the molecular movements impressed 

 upon the saline materials by unstable, though dead, 

 substances^ are also of such a nature as to allow those 



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