THE DESCENT OF PROTOPLASM 1 8 1 



place at one time on this earth, and with com- 

 pounds as well as elements, the simplest being 

 water. By the passage of an electric discharge, or, 

 what comes to the same thing, by the swift passage 

 of electrons of opposite kinds through a mixture 

 of oxygen and hydrogen, the aggregation we call 

 water is produced. Now the properties of water 

 are entirely different from those of its constituent 

 elements oxygen and hydrogen. They are as 

 different, in fact, as the properties of living proto- 

 plasm are from those of its constituent elements. 

 So much so that we have been led in following 

 this line of thought, and in reasoning from Pfluger's 

 analogies, to try to mix it with various types of 

 organic substances by sending a discharge of electricity 

 through cyanogen whilst the gas is in a highly 

 unstable phosphorescent state, and amongst these 

 substances sterilised bouillon was introduced in the 

 vacuum tube in which the electric discharge had 

 passed through the cyanogen, the discharge being 

 preferably of the electrodeless type. 



The figure shows the kind of apparatus used, 

 and although the results were unsatisfactory and 

 negative, and still remain somewhat inconclusive, 

 hope still lingers that further experiments in this 

 direction may lead to more definite results. As has 

 been said, it is largely a matter of chance whether 

 the particular mode of grouping occurs, and the 

 probability that this should take place may be 

 extremely small. Negative results should not be 

 regarded as conclusive against the possibility of 



