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A. H. Church. 
substance and the inert molecules of the water. But, however 
much this conception may apply to the effect of placing a salt 
in water, in terms of the solute, it can scarcely hold in the 
case of the solvent, in this case the primary water-supply of the 
world itself. To the biologist, whose conceptions are necessarily 
based on some sort of evolutionary scheme, it would appear that, 
just as the special chemical attributes of the elements comprising 
the crust of the earth, by the accident of the earth’s position in the 
solar system, in their aggregated condition unite to give the 
chemical possibilities of sea-water,—so at the aqueous condensation 
special physical attributes of the dielectric constitution of this 
remarkably ionizing medium become apparent, as marking the 
introduction of a new asset in the possible progression of the world, 
the results of which would have been so far wholly unforeseen. 
The fact emerges that sea-water, although the commonest thing 
on the world, as a mass of material of fairly uniform constitution, 
is physically an organization of extreme complexity; as the original 
fluid of a world-condensation at about 100°C, in which at a lower 
temperature biological “life” has become established; and of a 
nature quite distinct from that of any other “ anhydrous ” medium. 
It is with these peculiar properties of the medium termed sea¬ 
water that the first and most fundamental factors of life are 
involved. 
It thus follows that in dealing with “life ” in terms of ions, as 
a phase presumably non-molecular, though even this view may not 
include the whole truth, all older molecular conceptions require 
readjustment. Cytoplasm, in so far as it is living, probably consists 
essentially of active ions ; all molecules being end-phases, so far 
“ dead,” and passive, or in reserve. Colloidal cytoplasm in the first 
place adsorbs ions, not molecules; there are practically no 
molecules of nutritive significance in the sea ; the excess molecular 
salts are largely useless NaCl. There is no definite evidence that 
an autotrophic plant deals with any molecule in the sea. Present 
exceptions include large quantities of molecular debris of dead 
organism, as “ organic ” carbon, “ organic ” nitrogen, “ organic ” 
phosphorus. The question of the utilization of free oxygen in 
katabolic processes is equally secondary: it is not possible to 
say what may be the exact condition of oxygen “ in solution ” in 
the water; photosynthetic organisms may he said to manufacture 
their own, in which case it may be described as “ nascent ” ; while 
its essential utility may be doubted in the presence of available 
