208 life's beginning on the earth 



that cell-division began. However the division did not 

 seem to be the beginning of a development in these cases. 

 It appeared to be a degeneration due to the poisonous ac- 

 tion of the salts. On observing the degenerated products 

 resulting from salt action on the delicate ova, the experi- 

 menters were led to the impression that any attempt to 

 substitute artificial agents for such an exclusively "vital" 

 agent as the fertilizing sperm would be doomed invariably 

 to failure. Yet this unexpected success was achieved by 

 J. Loeb a few years later, after initial experiments in which 

 he too had unsatisfactory results. Whether his success was 

 due to the freedom of his mind from prejudice or rather to 

 his untiring and painstaking experimentation is hard to 

 decide. At any rate the accomplishment was there; nor- 

 mal larvae of the sea urchin were obtained; nearly all eggs 

 developed as they would after normal fertilization. The 

 larvae exhibited a good vitality by swimming to the top 

 of the aquarium like naturally-fertilized ones in contrast 

 to the sickly individuals obtained in initial experiments 

 which were unable to raise themselves that high. A sub- 

 stitute for the sperm had actually been found and it per- 

 formed the function equally well, in this case at least. 



Although Loeb was decidedly opposed to exaggerated 

 conclusions drawn from his work, he hoped that definite 

 evidence could be reached as to the nature of the fertilizing 

 action of the spermatozoon. Even this, however, was very 

 difficult to obtain. Loeb had devised a rather involved 

 technique using two different agents, acid and strong salt 

 solution. He attempted to show that these two agents, 

 used consecutively, corresponded to the action of the sperm. 

 Later, however, it was shown that under certain conditions 

 the strong salt solution alone suffices to bring about the 

 development of the egg-cell. Further progress to elucidate 

 the nature of fertilization has not been possible. 



Scientific discoveries hailed first as epoch-making, and 

 later abandoned, are no rare occurrence in the science of 



