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TBE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



71 



^^ the . 



\ 



■^Scther sudH., another is much stronger than for the molecules of 



the solvent. But the slow and long-continued action 



e 



icr 



of a more moderate amount of heat, will lead to those 



B;eometricaU ^'^^^^ ^i^^^ °^ collocation that are possible for such 



more complex molecules, and by which specks of what 

 we call ' living ' matter make their appearance through- 

 out the fluid. These speedily grow into primordial 

 organisms known as Bacteria, and — more especially if 



state of 



poll- 



^doubtedly 

 'rphous, and i 



^^ Mec ^^^ separation has taken place still more slowly— into 



hen we tnrtr ^ T .1 _ 1-. i_ ^r -n, -vir^ •^,,^4- ^^^ 



ToruU or other kinds of Fungus-germs. We must 



er^ we shall t si^er such well-known organisms to be just as much 



ration of its i. 



immediate products derivable from colloidal matter, as 



1 



more markedi crystals are the results of those modes of aggregation 



which are habitual and necessary among simpler mole- 

 cules^. 



ilid aggregates: 



ditionSjCank 



icT such mattei 



When 



heated to in the building up 



of colloidal matter, and in the 



/ 



are heaieuLy - ^^..^...^ «^, ^^ ^^, ;, -- 



vp- f' noftt: growth (and therefore probably in the genesis) of 



\ 



:ation 

 those w 



through 

 These 



organisms, whilst, on the other hand, heat is emitted 



) 



hich; 



tatedintheco«' 



the ra 



hose 



a 



perfectly- ^ ^t 

 lyccrine* 



or given out when crystals form^ we may get some dim 

 indications as to why the latter are stable or statical 



^ We have already mentioned the fact shown by Crosse, that elec- 

 tricity has a most marked influence in determining the formation of 

 crystals. It has been seen also, from the observations of Bridgman, that 

 ffiflity''^ electricity hastens the formation of such artificial calculi, as were 



described by Rainey. From the fact of the great proneness of organic 

 substances to putrefy or ferment during or before the advent of a 

 thunder-storm, and in view of the definite observations recorded at 

 vol. i. p. 288, it would seem highly probable that electrical influence 

 may also favour the formation of organisms and the evolution of living 

 matter. 



