264 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
and of ascertaining when they are free from foreign mixture." 
And on page 752, after discussing Mulder's speculation, he 
concludes, " The nature of this substance and its relation to 
Albumen require further examination. Indeed, the existence of 
the whole of these Protein compounds as distinct principles must 
be admitted to be very problematical." He gives Protein as 
C 36 , H 27 , N 4 , 0 12 . Chemistry is a progressive science, and such 
evidence might be deemed now rather antiquated. It is important, 
then, to note how the most modern investigators concur in these 
general results of their predecessors. Koscoe in his Elements, 
p. 438, says that we are as yet very ignorant of the true chemical 
relations of Albumenoids, and, p. 442, that "our knowledge of 
the composition and chemical constitution of the substances 
contained in the animal body is very incomplete." And as late as 
1887, in his address as President of the British Association, he 
says, " One cannot help feeling that the barrier which exists 
between the organized and unorganized worlds is one which the 
chemist sees no chance of breaking down. No such problem lies 
within his provinces." To complete this list, I may refer to the 
words of the great French analyst, Pasteur, who, in a remarkable 
passage recorded in the volume describing his Life and Labours, 
pp. 26, 27, shows by rigid chemical analysis that there is 
a real distinction between artificial compounds and the matter 
of Life. 
Of course, such statements have only an indirect bearing on the 
main question of the origin of the first Life ; but if we would be 
impartial judges we cannot but allow them due weight against the 
claim made by some to prove the evolution of Life from purely 
inorganic conditions, by the asserted possibility of artificially 
producing organic compounds. There are more sides than one to 
this question. 
Turning next to the nature of Protoplasm in its bearing on the 
origin of Life, we have to distinguish carefully between admitted 
facts and the inferences drawn from the facts. That there is a 
certain physical arrangement involved in the existence of Life is, of 
course, involved in the fact that Life as we see it is not a purely 
spiritual thing, but, be it what it may, is exhibited in a material 
organism; and that all forms of Life should have the same 
physical basis does not, as it seems to me, touch the question as to 
what Life itself is. To say that it itself is the said physical basis 
