1 86 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



matter which constitutes them and its descent ac- 

 cording to similar laws from primordial substance 

 composed of electrons or the electric fluid. In 

 the almost infinite combinations which have taken 

 place amongst these there were a few stable enough 

 to survive, and at length the chemical elements 

 themselves in a similar way appeared. 



From the considerations given in the other 

 chapters, it is preferable to regard the substance 

 of which the ultimate nucleus is composed as 

 nothing more than a highly unstable element or 

 perhaps compound, like cyanogen, with a consider- 

 able store of energy. The mechanism which on 

 this hypothesis would constitute cellular life we 

 have already sketched; and we should now proceed 

 to develop more in detail. 



A point to bear in mind is that living proto- 

 plasm is the survivor in the struggle for existence 

 against the forces of its environment, which has 

 been gradually changing, so that there has been 

 also a certain amount of natural selection in pro- 

 moting slight variations in the substance. In this 

 way, the gap between living and not-living things 

 has gradually become more and more marked ; till 

 many types corresponding to those produced arti- 

 ficially in the laboratory very rapidly became 

 extinct or eliminated in the struggle for existence 

 with their environment. 



As we have said, for anything we know there is no 

 such thing as really dead matter, and there may be 

 in all matter a certain amount of energy stored up 



