The best way to approach the problem of origin of life is to consider the living system in the light of the functional properties it shows. A living system should be able to grow from within multiply by budding to begin with and should have metabolic activity, that is, it should be capable of a series of chemical transformations which ultimately should lead to the formation of at least a part of the material with which it is made and these transformations should provide energy for the living functions of the system. If, during this multiplications if some changes are brought about, the changed structure should be able to duplicate again, For this energy is needed. There should be a flow of energy through the system for its stability and development.The earliest living system according to Abelson was formed in the secondary atmosphere consisting of carbondioxide nitrogen and water vapour.   In such a system, for the formation of living system, two things are needed . First, a source of energy to raise the carbon dioxide to organic carbon stage and molecular nitrogen to reduced or fixed nitrogen so that amino nitrogen needed to form amino acids, the basic building units for the proteins are formed. But this source of energy should be strong enough to produce the desired changes but weak enough, that it does not destroy the products.

The second need is of a source of hydrogen Water in all probability supplied the hydrogen needed for the reduction of carbondioxide and nitrogen allowing the oxygen to escape into the atmosphere. The source of energy which was continuously available on the earth is solar energy.

Jeewanu were found to contain materials with Ferredoxin like activity. Ferredoxin is essential for all biological electron transfer processes and all the cells have Ferredoxin in them.  
Jeewanu mixtures show reversible photochemical electron transfer. A mixture in which jeewanu is produced on exposure to sunlight becomes blue in color. The blue color is formed by the reduction of molybdenum from colorless stage (ic) to blue colored ( ous ) stage. If this blue mixture is covered with black cloth and kept in the dark for a few days, it becomes colorless. This process can be repeated again and again.

It is observed that if Jeewanu are separated from the environmental medium, put in  distilled water , the mixture thoroughly shaken and then exposed to sunlight, bubbles of gas start coming out from the bottom of the mixture where the particles settle. Manometric observations in a warburg apparatus indicated that if pyrogallol alkali mixture is kept in the side lobe of the flask there is considerable increase in the pressure on exposure of a mixture of jeewanu and water to light from a 1000 W tungsten lamp. In the dark during night there is a notable decrease in the pressure which on exposure on the next day, increases again. This is observed for about six days.

It was observed that Jeewanu showed nitrogenase like activity. A mixture of Jeewanu, mineral solution and water containing an atmosphere of acetylene exposed to a Xenon lamp showed that with increasing period of exposure the amount of acetylene decreased in the overhead space and ethylene was produced. The fixation of nitrogen by Jeewanu was determined by Kjeldahl  estimation of the nitrogen content of exposed mixtures of Jeewanu and it was found that in light atmospheric nitrogen is converted to ammoniacal nitrogen. In dark some of the nitrogen is converted into organic nitrogen.In light, nitrogen is converted into nitric nitrogen also. Similar mixtures kept in dark do not show any fixation of nitrogen. Presence of oxygen in the atmosphere hinders this nitrogen fixation.