82 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



we see around us constitute after all a fraction, 

 perhaps an infinitesimally small fraction, of the vast 

 numbers of such types that have once existed and 

 have long since perished. Whilst in that arena 

 wherein life has played so conspicuous and so per- 

 sistent a part throughout the history of the earth, 

 in the struggle for existence against the more in- 

 animate forces of Nature, there are once more to be 

 found in a still greater variety the elements, so to 

 speak, of that which was the source of those higher 

 forms or survivals of living matter. 



This almost indefinite variety of combination in 

 organic and inorganic matter, these weird though 

 simple instances of metabolic aggregations and of 

 even simpler states, give the clue to the first signs 

 of life. Amidst this vast variety a few possessed the 

 qualities which enabled them to perform the functions 

 of transmitting their kind, and a still smaller number 

 of transmitting the kind which would persist in the 

 surroundings which Nature had laid out for them ; till 

 at length, as if against all opposition, " a race was 

 formed with conscience enough to know that it was 

 vile, and intelligence enough to know that it was 

 insignificant " ; this race itself, no doubt, like the 

 individuals which constitute it, in turn will die. 

 " And the uneasy consciousness, which for a brief time 

 had in this obscure corner broken the silence of the 

 Universe, will then be at rest. Imperishable monu- 

 ments and immortal deeds, death itself, and love 

 stronger than death, will be as though they never 

 had been." Nor does it appear from these considera- 



