42 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Life cannot be measured by quantity. It does not increase with age 

 or size. 



McCabe says " it consists merely of ' metabolic processes.' " 

 But why are there no such in any known mineral body ? The word 

 " merely " does not enable one to fill the " yawning gulf " or even the 

 merest crack ! He adds : u There is no feature in their life that we 

 can claim to be beyond the range of a subtle synthesis of inorganic 

 energies." There are at least two, not only in microbes, but in man 

 himself. One is the metabolic process itself, to which he refers, such 

 as the absorption and digestion of food within the body for the forming 

 and restitution of the organs and maintaining the life of the organism. 



The energies are purely physical, the matter all inanimate ; but 

 what determines or directs the forces so that they place the inorganic 

 substances just where they are wanted ? McCabe does not 

 allude to this. The metabolic processes of digestion terminate in 

 blood. This is the substance for building up and renewing the organs 

 of a body. Life is like a train starting from a terminus, laden with 

 parcels directed to various stations. For so, too, the blood leaves the 

 heart, impelled by it as a force-pump. It travels all over the body 

 but never stops. It discharges its lime where bones are being formed, 

 its silica for the nails, teeth and hair ; its salt is dissolved in the tear- 

 glands, but not in the mouth, &c. 



Then, as trains bring back " returned empties," so the red blood- 

 corpuscles, having carried the oxygen of the air to all parts of the body 

 for respiration, bring back the useless carbonic acid and discharge it 

 into the air. There is nothing comparable with respiration in the 

 inorganic world, though the oxidizing or burning process is common 

 enough. 



A most important point has been seemingly and entirely overlooked 

 by those who would try to close up the gulf between the living and the 

 non-living ; and that is respiration. 



The microbe organisms suggested as being more or less like the 

 hypothetical primeval ones, are not only not green, and therefore 

 cannot assimilate inorganic food, but are parasites or saprophytes, 

 i.e. feeding on living or decaying organic substances. Such microbes 

 must breathe or die ; and respiration, which is an oxidizing process, 

 is the means by which energy is continually supplied to them for 

 growth, development and reproduction. Nothing approaching respira- 

 tion is known in the inorganic world ; the oxidation of metals &c. 

 or " rusting " is of course abundant ; but this, once done, is not 

 renewed, and no results follow as from breathing. With regard to the 

 origin of respiration, like that of assimilation, it is a complete blank 

 in our knowledge. 



Moreover, like all ordinary combustions of inorganic substances, 

 rusting begins on the outside and works inwards in minerals ; whereas 

 breathing is internal in all plants and animals and the products (C0 2 

 and H 2 0) are exhaled. 



Judging from existing facts, the first living organism should have 



