336 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



cell, its structure, the apparently directive force, 

 the enormous store of energy which it contains, 

 all result from the peculiar constitution and 

 nature of the nucleus, and that the biogen or 

 nuclear substance is as distinct in its constitution 

 as inert matter and nothing more or less than 

 matter in the process of becoming. 



This theory of biogen forms a hnk between 

 purely electrical and purely material phenomena. 

 It is an attempt to attribute the properties of 

 biogen to a purely dynamical or electrodynamical 

 source, and to show that these phenomena are 

 as much a part of the great system of the 

 Universe as the simplest of physical effects. 



The analogous phenomena of physical metabolism 

 in the case of radio-active, phosphorescent and 

 luminous bodies generally broadens the field of 

 vision from which the subject of life should be 

 viewed. 



In every part of Nature that same process of 

 building up and breaking down of molecules occurs, 

 and, reasoning from analogy once more, it would 

 appear that the phenomena which we witness in 

 this our miniature planet take place also in some- 

 what similar ways in other and remote worlds 

 where like forces play their part. 



It is not to be expected that in those other 

 planets and other worlds precisely the same types 

 of life are to be found as we see around us 

 here to-day. The conditions cannot have been 

 or b© ihe same, and therefore variations of other 



