94 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



is greatly increased by letting them diffuse into 

 another tube through which the spark had not 

 previously been sent.^ 



The effect of glycerine and gelatin on phosphor- 

 escent liquids is also known to increase the duration 

 of the luminosity, and this is probably due to the 

 diminution in the number of collisions. 



I thus endeavoured to observe the effect upon 

 the phosphorescent molecules by introducing gly- 

 cerine or gelatin into a vacuum tube, immediately 

 after sending a discharge of electricity through it, 

 whilst the phosphorescent glow lasted. 



If the glycerine or gelatin on being introduced 

 is shaken inside the tube, some of the phosphor- 

 escent molecules would be caught by the liquid, 

 which in turn should become phosphorescent. The 

 cyanogen molecules, it was thought, would do this, 

 particularly on account of their persistent nature 

 after the passage of the discharge. Bouillon, which 

 had been sterilised with the tube itself before being 

 introduced, was also among the substances employed. 

 The vapour, however, from these substances when 

 in the liquid state was enough to prevent the 

 phosphorescent molecules, which could exist at low 

 pressure, from persisting, and thus the experiments 

 for the time were dropped. 



It seemed as if the complex molecules of para- 

 cyanogen, unstable, but at the same time persistent, 

 and yielding a vast store of energy in their dis- 

 integration, might act as nuclei, which would in 

 1 Philosophical Magazine, March, 1901. 



