378 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



eye, in a mass at least, on the surface of the medium in which 

 they were produced. 



Now like all similar growths hitherto witnessed, these 

 productions are the subjects of much doubt. In spite of the 

 care bestowed on their formation, it is hardly possible to be 

 certain of the perfect sterilisation of the medium in which 

 they appeared. It may be that we have still much to learn 

 concerning the resistance of micro-organisms to heat. Although 

 the experiments of Pasteur are generally held to be conclusive, 

 still there is as yet no consensus of opinion as to the exact 

 temperature at which life ceases. It has been suggested by 

 Le Dantec that the radiobes of Burke may be half dead 

 organisms which the radium has had the effect of reanimating 

 and if this were the case, experiments such as these would 

 only prove that life can spring from the slenderest of vital 

 threads. Burke himself did not claim that the objects which 

 he produced were to be positively called living ; only that they 

 had every appearance of microscopic beings. 



Butschli in conducting his experiments on microscopic foams 

 and protoplasm did not endeavour to produce life but he was 

 able by means of a mayonnaise of olive oil, common salt, cane 

 sugar and water to produce a froth which under the microscope 

 revealed alveolar and other characteristics strongly resembling 

 those of protoplasm and behaving in its streamings, aqueous 

 diffusions, general movements and electrical conditions in the 

 same manner as protoplasm. Here was an attempt to gain an 

 acquaintance with the physical nature of the primal substance 

 by means of an imitation made with suitable materials, an 

 attempt which at least succeeded in showing that the constitution 

 of protoplasm, with its nucleated cells, its flaccidity and its 

 alveolarity, was not a special attribute of life but in posse, 

 otherwise, in Nature. By these experiments, a valuable con- 

 tribution was made to the work of reconstruction which is 

 slowly taking place. For it is evident that the more knowledge 

 is gained of the extension of the physical properties of life 

 beyond the actual spheres of life, the better the synthesis can 

 be attempted from which it is sought to evolve the living 

 thing. 



The experiments of Bastian were designed to show that, 

 contrary to expectation and to what has hitherto been considered 

 probable, life may spring from purely inorganic matter under 



