LATENT LIFE 181 
its state of colloidal solution, but, in spite of all, 
the seeds showed a high percentage of germination! 
Now, as Becquerel says, ‘life without water, 
without air, without gaseous exchanges, without 
colloid molecules in suspension in a liquid, appears 
paradoxical.” The vital current is frozen hard, 
and if this be so we are forced to the conclusion 
that life is not bound to be quite continuous until 
death overtakes it. It can stop and begin again. 
It is not to be supposed that the composition of 
that chemical firm which we call protoplasm has 
been altered, or that any of the component molecules 
have suffered disintegration. That way death lies. 
But there has been a physical check, like the freez- 
ing of a stream, from which recovery is possible 
within limits. One would like to see Becquerel’s 
experiments extended to the animal world, where 
the phenomena may be different; but the evidence 
from seeds points to the conclusion that life may 
be interrupted without destroying its power of 
resuscitation. 
As Becquerel points out, the capacity for lying 
low is no mere curiosity, it has significance in the 
struggle for existence. It enables organisms to bide 
their time, to bend to the storm, to wait and see. 
Many minute creatures get carried about in a state 
of latent life; others rest in quietness, evading a 
hopeless struggle, and if propitious conditions are 
restored in time, they do not lose their reward. 
“ Latent life is a true Providence for the terrestrial 
conservation of organisms.” Becquerel suggests 
