X CONTENTS 



PAGE 



logical extreme — Haeckel and biogenesis — Cyclic process 

 the test of life in the higher forms of matter — Whether a 

 cell- wall is necessary in ultra-microscopic germs — Metabolic 

 combination of two opposite processes— How they are 

 effected — Formation of molecular aggregates — Many crystals 

 may be fossilised remains of living matter — Classification 

 should not be between organic and inorganic but between 

 active and inert matter 45 



CHAPTER IV 



THE COBRBLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA 



The object in view — Results outcome in part of researches 

 originally started as to the phenomena of phosphorescence — 

 Object to arrive at dynamical explanations — Luminosity 

 result of metabolic actions, of a buUding up and breaking 

 down of molecules — Fluorescence and phosphorescence — 

 Luminosity of gases when an electric discharge passes 

 through them — Theory of large chains of molecules — 

 Fluorescence and absorption — Inferences to be drawn from 

 these — Luminous and non-luminous states of matter two 

 different states — Catalytic actions — Enzymes and nuclei — 

 Stable and unstable groups of molecules — Atoms may be 

 elementary cells — Biogenesis carried to its logical extreme — 

 Huxley's scientific faith — Views of Johannes Miiller — The 

 unity and plurality in Nature everywhere combined, and 

 constitute its continuity 63 



CHAPTER V 



THE PHYSICAL BASIS OP LIFE 



This correlation of Vital Phenomena opens up a new perspective 

 — Life in its primitive state must have been different from 

 anything now observed in Nature — According to Clerk 

 Maxwell the number of atoms in the cell is not sufficient to 

 account for its immense potentiality — This potentiality, with 

 all- its; varieties, probably the" result of perturbations in the 

 particular motion which constitutes the principle of vital 

 activity — How it may have arisen — Natural as distinct from 

 artificial life — Radio-activity of living bodies, plants, and 

 animals — Experiments of Tommasina — Origin of primitive 

 radio-active bodies lost in same obscurity as that of primitive 

 life 80 



CHAPTER VI 



EXPERIMENTS WITH RADIUM AND CULTURE MEDIA 



Experiments with glycerine and liquid air — Dr. Gladstone's 

 glycerine crystals — Culture produced by radium salts in 



