MATTER AND "MIND-STUFF" 335 



tions of millions of electrons, somewhat in the 

 manner of spiral nebulae. 



Pasteur's conclusion that living matter is in- 

 variably associated with an asymmetric structure 

 is undoubted, and lends further support to the 

 views herein expressed. But it gives us very little 

 help towards the question of spontaneous genera- 

 tion at the present day. 



Upon the point of physical metabolism and 

 molecular aggregation the facts show how wide- 

 spread the phenomena are, and indicate how it is 

 only a question of degree, as the phenomena 

 vary from the simplest to the most complex 

 types. 



Hence the mechanism of life is a process which 

 in its nature resembles that of the artificial forms 

 or cells we have described, and affords a suffi- 

 ciently close analogy with which we may frame 

 hypotheses as to the actual dynamical systems 

 involved. The metabolisms, as it is shown, are 

 a necessary consequence of the properties of the 

 nuclear substance, this substance being the seat 

 and the source of complex disturbances. The 

 question as to how the metabolism is started 

 and kept up is thus equivalent to the great 

 question as to how the nuclear substance or 

 biogen can afford the directing power and in- 

 ternal energy which we know it to possess. 

 We have shown from the analogous cases of 

 artificial forms that the continuous process of 

 change, the catalytic and metabolic actions of the 



