REVIEWS 



The Origin of Life : Being an account of Experiments with certain superheated 



Saline Solutions in Hermetically Sealed Vessels. By H. CHARLTON 



BaSTIAN, M.D., F.R.S. Second Edition. [Pp. 98 with 12 plates.] 



(London: Watts & Co., 1913. Price 3s. bd. net.) 



DR. Charlton Bastian is nothing if not persistent. The volume under notice 



is a second edition of his well-known essay, together with an appendix— termed 



important on the title-page, this being a paper read by him, so recently as 



November 19, 1912, before the Pathology section of the Royal Society of Medicine. 



Apparently he has been spurred to this fresh effort by the discussion on the 



Origin of Life which took place at the British Association in September last. 



Dr. Bastian's essay is a pathetic document, as showing how easy it is for a man 

 to persuade himself into believing in the impossible. Not a few scientific workers 

 will be in full sympathy with him on account of the transparent sincerity of his 

 convictions, though they may refuse altogether to accept his experiments as 

 satisfactory. The essay contains his well-known indictment of the Royal Society, 

 who have declined to publish his papers. But he is wrong in regarding himself 

 as injured— the course he has taken in consequence of the refusal meted out to 

 him by " our premier scientific Society " has not only brought his fancied wrongs 

 prominently under notice but has secured far greater prominence for his views 

 than they would have had if they had been officially recorded. The Royal Society 

 has two kinds of archives— those which technically rank as such and its official 

 publications : it is well known that these latter are the highest form of decent 

 burial the scientific worker can achieve. They are to be found resting peacefully 

 on the shelves of the fellows and of public libraries but the evidence is conclusive 

 that they are rarely consulted here and that they are practically unknown abroad. 

 As self-erected monuments of industry and scientific precision, many of the 

 memoirs the volumes contain are magnificent— but they rarely enter into practical 

 politics. Had the Royal Society desired to nip Dr. Bastian's heresies in the bud, 

 they would probably have ordered the publication of his communications in their 

 Transactions. In fact, Dr. Bastian has failed to realise that Huxley and Michael 

 Foster his follower were wags both and that their real object must have been to 

 give prominence to his views. 



At present the Royal Society is suffering under the load of its traditions and 

 its superlative respectability but its inanition is deplorable. Some day it may 

 appreciate the sacred nature of the trust committed to it and once more become 

 a factor in the progress of science. Even papers such as Dr. Bastian's will be 

 accepted and read, fully and critically discussed and— if not withdrawn by 

 consent or request of the author— published together with the discussion, so 

 that all who run may read. The Society will then rank high by reason of the 

 sympathy which it will extend to all serious workers and its best safeguard will 

 be the reputation it will enjoy as a centre of unsparing but honest criticism ; in 

 that far-off time maybe science will have its golden days and will be honoured 

 as the protector of the public at large against false belief and pretence. 



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