112 PROFESSOR LIONEL BEALE, F.R.C.P., F.R.S., ON THE 



a trace of solid matter remains. The germs of many of these 

 living particles are so light that they are suspended in the air, 

 and wafted long distances by the slightest current. Many such 

 " low " forms of life, are however of complex structure, and their 

 movements suggest a very elaborate arrangement of motor organs 

 acting as perfectly as, and more quickly than, those of the higher 

 animals wliich possess a complex nervous system, not a few of 

 the movements of Protozoa being evidently under the control of 

 the will. These minute organisms possess the power of 

 choosing the direction in which they will travel, and have also 

 the power of suddenly stopping at any moment. The air and 

 the water seem to provide ail that is required for their existence, 

 growth, and increase in number. It seems not improbable that 

 the living matter of these delicate organisms acts directly on 

 their contractile tissues, as nerves act on tlie muscles of the 

 liigher animals, and that by this direct vital action their move- 

 ments are effected. 



The proportion of water in all rapidly growing living 

 particles, and also in tissues and organisms generally, during 

 early growth, is so large that it is difficult to believe that the 

 water itself is only of mechanical service in development and 

 formation, and not actually living. Water and air seem to be 

 the only necessary constituents of some of the lowest organisms 

 and living particles, and I think we may regard them as being 

 universally present in everything that lives not exce]3ting the 

 Bacteria. Death occurs in every particle of living matter, if 

 the proportion of water be reduced below a certain point, but 

 long before the matter can be said to be dry. My belief is that 

 in all living nature there is not one instance of perfectly dry 

 matter of any kind being alive, and that water is universally 

 present in every part of our life world. 



Is it not probable that many of the lowest organisms in the 

 beginning, were created in water, perhaps from water and air 

 which was dissolved in the water, that their successors were 

 developed, grew, and multiplied in water, and without doubt 

 lived and died in water ? As to the origin of life, looking from 

 the science side, nothing is at present really known. But can 

 we ever forget what we learned in childhood that " the Spirit 

 of God moved upon the face of the waters," or the command, 

 " Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature 

 that hath life" ; and is it not remarkable that the close relation 

 between water and life, should have been affirmed ages before 

 science or scientific research could have been thought of — 

 " Water of Life "— Living Water " ? 



