2o8 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



as we have described in much simpler instances, 

 as in the case of foam cells, by mixing two salt 

 solutions of different strengths ; they are also 

 produced by the action of potassium ferrocyanide 

 on gelatin, and even by the action of common salt 

 upon certain kinds of ink, notably China ink, as 

 Luduc has shown, and, again, liquid crystals, as 

 Lehmann has found, which can be formed in certain 

 organic laodies of complicated organic structure. 

 The liquid bodies shown in the figures prepared for 

 the most part from ^-azoxyphenetol under various 

 conditions exhibit the eflfects of crystals on polarised 

 light. They have the power of sub-dividing and of 

 influencing foreign bodies. The appearance of these 

 bodies is most striking and beautiful, as the photo- 

 graphs distinctly show. 



On the other hand, the bodies produced by the 

 action of radium resemble not merely in their 

 appearance, but also in their behaviour, the types 

 of bodies which protoplasm can give rise to. And 

 if the substances which we have postulated in a 

 similar manner constitute biogen, by their inter- 

 actions with protoplasm it should form stUl more 

 complex aggregations approximating more closely 

 to cellular and proteid life. 



It is often stated that chance will account for 

 the production of the necessary asymmetry, but as a 

 matter of fact it seems more probable that a 

 directive action, subject however to the dynamical 

 laws of nature, has played a part even in this. If 

 one tosses a penny a number of times over, 



