Water is the "MATRIX OF LIFE" -- within it all life emerged, without it, no life, as we know it, is possible. In spite of its vital importance as the medium in which all natural molecules first formed, no unifying hypotheses have been advanced to explain how water integrates the tremendous variety of complex molecular parts involved. In the MATRIX OF LIFE the view is presented, for the first time, that it is the strong fractal, surface-patterning properties of saline water that directed natural molecular evolution to spatial forms which satisfy those same, basic surface patterns. By regulating the degree of order in water on their surfaces, natural molecules direct their own assembly to yield the spontaneous, self-replicative phenomenon we call "life." More than 120 accurate, computer-graphic illustrations of molecules as simple as glucose & as complex as the ribosome are interpreted in terms of the surface-patterning properties of water. The work, which is the culmination of a 25-year study of natural molecules, introduces so many new & challenging ideas regarding the role of water in living systems that it should be of great value to everyone interested in the natural sciences.