322 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



it apparently does all the formative elements of the complete 

 organism, should be simple in structure. It must contain a 

 complete series of interconnected templates from which growth 

 can proceed. I have elsewhere stated that protoplasm ™-x 

 be pictured as made up of a large numk^i 01 curls, like a 

 judge's wig, all in communication through some centre, con- 

 nected here and thcie perhaps also by lateral bonds of union. 

 If such a point of view be accepted, it is possible to account 

 for the occurrence, in some sections, of the complex interchanges 

 which involve work being done upon the substances there 

 brought into interaction, the necessary energy being drawn 

 from some other part of the complex where the interchanges 

 involve a development of energy (Winnipeg Address). 



My metaphorical wig as a whole may be taken as repre- 

 senting the racial type — the curls as corresponding to separate 

 characters. 



I can imagine so complex a structure being formed by a 

 series of fortuitous accidents in course of time but taking into 

 account the extraordinary fixity of natural types, so well 

 expressed in Tennyson's lines : 



So careful of the type she seems, 

 So careless of the single life, 



it seems to me improbable that a like series of accidents should 

 recur. It is on grounds such as these that I cannot accord 

 my sympathy to statements such as Dr. Bastian has made and 

 that I cannot accept the suggestion put forward by Prof. Schafer 

 that life conceivably is arising de novo at the present day, let 

 alone that it is the easy process suggested so light-heartedly 

 by Prof. Moore. Where are the materials ? Can we say that 

 they exist anywhere ? 



It is useless for biologists to live in a higher empyrean of 

 their own and to disregard the minuter details which chemical 

 study alone can unravel : they will never be able to solve the 

 complex problems of life or even to grasp their significance 

 unless they pay more attention to the ways in which building 

 stones are shaped and mortar made and in which edifices are 

 gradually reared from such materials. 



I have no desire to take exception to the general trend of 

 Prof. Schafer's address but I cannot help thinking that he 

 altogether underrates the complexity of vital chemical pro- 





