THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
Just here, it might be well to point out the late place occupied by life, in this process of inorganic evolution. The Absolute Zero of inter-stellar space is about -273°C. On the other hand, the temperature of the hottest stars is more than 30,000°! (Argo, Alnitam, etc.) The temperature must fall from this to a few degrees above Zero (the boiling point of water), before life can become manifest at all. Life as we know it can only exist between the boiling and the freezing points of water. This point is only reached towards the very end of the scale. It has therefore been said that, cosmically speaking, life is only a “flash in the pan between two eternitiesâ€â€”but for us that flash in the pan is everything!
The question of the origin of life upon our planet has been discussed at some length in my little book on “Life: Its Origin and Nature,†in the present series. It may be of interest to mention here, however, a few of the experiments which have been made upon the artificial creation of life, by means of inorganic chemicals, since these properly fall into place in a book devoted to chemistry.
Dr. H. Charlton Bastian, of England, conducted many years ago a series of experiments of this character, in which he claimed to have made living matter from sterilized chemicals. He placed these in a glass bottle which had been sterilized, heated the contents until steam issued from the mouth of the flask, and then instantly sealed up the bottle, preventing theentrance of air. The flasks were then put away for several days, and at the end of that time were found, upon examination, to contain living organisms.