84 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



atom itself as an individual whole. And yet, not- 

 withstanding all this, it seems as if all these varieties 

 must be sought, not in the particular types of aggre- 

 gations of molecular atoms and electrons or what 

 not, but in variations in that something else, that 

 particular and specialised state of motion, upon which 

 life itself depends. That something else, as we have 

 seen, it is not easy to define, nor is it ours to 

 explain its precise nature in all cases, even in its 

 simplest state, nor the variations of which it may 

 admit. We have endeavoured to describe the manner 

 in which that instability of motion in certain syn- 

 theses which can give rise to it, can afford the 

 so-called vital principle or energy in such reactions. 

 We have also suggested that it might explain all the 

 phenomena of life and death, of growth, of sub- 

 division, reproduction, and decay. But, just as the 

 motions of aggregates of electrons, that we call 

 atoms, can give rise to the immense numbers and 

 varieties of spectra, so might it be expected that the 

 flux as well as the aggregates which constitute the 

 principles in vital actions admit of endless varieties 

 of motions and configurations which only become 

 manifest by their subsequent developments, in which 

 such variations in the internal properties of germs, 

 or whatever we may call them, once more become 

 decisively distinct. 



We may expect that the minutest differences 

 in living things, like the variations in animals from 

 the same parents, or even in those of the same 

 species, are to be accounted for in some such way. 



