THE INTERPRETATION OF LIFE 379 



certain conditions. It is well known that this inquirer has 

 devoted considerable time and labour to the promulgation of 

 a doctrine whereby life, instead of owing its origin to one 

 protoplasm, evolved in the early stages of the world's history 

 and perpetuated in a multiplicity of forms to the present day, 

 can and does appear de novo in the world. In support of this, 

 he has made with great pertinacity and conviction a series of 

 attempts to produce life out of some of the elements most 

 commonly distributed over the earth's crust. Out of the deposit 

 formed by a few drops of sodium silicate and of ferric nitrate in 

 an ounce of water in one case, as well as out of the deposit 

 formed by a few drops of the same silicate together with a 

 few drops of phosphoric acid and a few grains of ammonium 

 phosphate, in water, in another case, he claims to have obtained 

 various microscopic organisms — bacteria, torulae, moulds, etc. — 

 after sterilisation of both solutions at temperatures of 115° to 

 i45°C. during 5 to 10 minutes and the expiration of periods 

 varying from one to twelve months. 



It is certain that if life sprang originally from the inorganic 

 matter of the cooling earth, there is no inherent impossibility 

 in the production of life germs from the chemical substances 

 which mostly compose the earth, provided that the conditions 

 have been obtained which first existed and that the necessary 

 synthesis has been achieved. This is far from admitting, how- 

 ever, that the productions of Bastian are synthetic in the 

 biological meaning of the term. It is by no means positive 

 moreover that heating to 145° C. is sufficient to destroy all possi- 

 bility of germination. According to some views, solutions from 

 which it is sought to evolve life should first he heated at 

 least to 150 C. and kept at that temperature at least thirty 

 minutes. Dr. Bastian, however, states that the higher tem- 

 peratures "degrade" the saline mixture and tend to destroy 

 what he calls its " germinality." : Air-borne germs, also, may 

 accrue after the tubes are opened. 



1 On inquiring of Dr. Bastian by what train of reasoning he was induced to 

 try to obtain his results with these particular solutions, I was referred by him to 

 a passage in his book The Origin of Life, 191 1, pp. 72 and "]% wherein mention 

 is made of the writings of Royer, Herrera, Renauder, Alb. and Alex. Mary and 

 (especially) Prof. Emerson Reynolds in support of the statement that many silicon 

 compounds resemble those of carbon with nitrogen and that under suitable 

 conditions a plant or animal may be able to construct from silicon compounds 

 " something akin to silicon protoplasm for use in its structure," 



