1 60 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



analogy too far — how easy it is to be scientific within a narrow region and 

 outside this a barbarian. The author gravely defends the doctrine of spontaneous 

 generation on the evidence afforded by certain purely inorganic growths, formed 

 by such processes as that of dropping a lump of fused calcium chloride into a 

 solution of an alkaline carbonate, phosphate or silicate. Dr. Leduc talks learnedly 

 of osmotic phenomena and seems to have considerable feeling on this subject — 

 but apparently he altogether lacks feeling on the bio-chemical side ; otherwise he 

 could scarcely fail to have realised that external form is of small account in 

 comparison with the internal structural complexity of organisms, a complexity 

 which must necessarily be absent from all structures obtained by following his 

 methods. Arguments such as the author uses are invalidated by the fact that 

 Nature works with comparatively so few materials, with but three of the six 

 possible glucoses, for example ; and particularly by what is now known of enzymes 

 and their functions. Those who have had the good fortune to witness the 

 demonstrations given by Dr. Butcher on various occasions of late will be aware, 

 however, that the growths described by Dr. Leduc are extraordinarily beautiful 

 and interesting. Moreover, the observations are undoubtedly of real importance, 

 as throwing light on the possible character of some of the processes of cell growth 

 in which osmotic changes are of consequence. They are, in fact, to be taken 

 seriously, although the main conclusions based upon them cannot for one moment 

 be accepted. 



