THREE 
THE BEGINNINGS OF PLANT LIFE ON 
EARTH 
A PPARENTLY life in some form appeared on the 
JL JL earth as soon as the conditions of temperature were 
favorable. We really know nothing about the origin of 
life; everything that is said on the subject is speculation, 
based on what is known about life’s development. But 
the human mind has an irresistible desire, which philoso¬ 
phers have called the metaphysical urge, to fill in the gaps 
in our scientific information with theories which will ex¬ 
plain, in a reasonable way, that which is wrapped in dark¬ 
ness. It is constantly attempting to form workable hypo¬ 
theses about important events which we have not been 
in a position to observe, and about which we cannot col¬ 
lect dependable knowledge. 
It is not to geology, however, that we must turn for an 
explanation of the origin of life, but to bio-chemistry. 
The latter teaches us that life functions have their begin¬ 
ning in the colloidal stage, which is a condition not 
strictly liquid or strictly solid but that of a jelly which 
SO 
