164 



Dr. B. Moore and Mr. T. A. Webster. 



from inorganic matter could exist or flourish in total absence of pre-formed 

 ■organic matter and must inevitably perish. 



A substance acting as a transformer of light energy with accompanying- 

 synthesis of organic from inorganic matter now exists in our world, in 

 chlorophyll, the green colouring matter of plants, and also allied bodies such 

 ■as the blue-green colouring matter of the Cyanophycese possess a similar 

 power. But both these substances are exceedingly highly organised and 

 ■complex, quite unsuitable by their nature to be thought of as the first stage 

 in the evolution of organic from inorganic matter at the dawning of life in 

 a world hitherto devoid of anything organic. 



The protoplasm of the living cell also is built up of the most complex 

 organic compounds known to us such as could scarcely arise in an entirely 

 inorganic world as the first step from inorganic to organic matter. 



The first primeval step would appear to be indicated by the union of single 

 crystalloidal inorganic molecules to form inorganic colloids, and that these 

 meta-stable colloids acting on inorganic carbon compounds, such as carbon 

 dioxide, in presence of water and sunlight, and taking energy from the 

 sunlight, built up at first simple organic bodies, and now these in turn 

 reacting with one another formed more and more complex organic compounds. 

 In any such transformation external energy is necessary, because the reacting 

 bodies, carbon dioxide and water, are fully oxidised, and must be reduced 

 with evolution of oxygen and uptake of energy in what is called an 

 endothermic reaction. To this reaction, the inorganic colloid plays the part 

 of an activator or catalyst, the solar energy being converted into chemical 

 energy of the organic compound, so serving as a reservoir of the energy 

 necessary for the coming living organic world. 



It was first suggested by Baeyer* that the initial stage in the synthesis of 

 organic matter from inorganic by the green plant consisted in a reaction of 

 carbon dioxide and water to produce formaldehyde and oxygen, the energy 

 for the endothermic reaction being supplied from the energy of the light 

 vibrations. This has been confirmed by delicate reactions, for although the 

 change is a transitory one, the formaldehyde being condensed into other 

 organic substances as it is formed, yet colour reactions for aldehydes are known 

 so delicate that they will clearly indicate 1 part in 1,000,000 of aldehyde. 



Any accumulation of formaldehyde would rapidly kill the living cell, and 

 it is soon transformed into other products, but the colour tests are so delicate 

 that its presence in traces has now been confirmed by several observers.f 



* ' Berichte d. deut. chem. Gesellsch.,' 1870, vol. 3, p. 68. 



t See especially, Usher and Priestley, ' Eoy. Soc. Proc.,' 1906, B, vol. 77, p. 369, where 

 references to other papers are given. 



