290 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Sep-jbmber 20, 1919. 



If one p'aces a piece of freshly-boiled sweet 

 pot^ito in a sterilized bottle and corks it dowu, it is 

 quite likely that after a few days mould of some sort 

 will make its appearance on the piece of vegetable. 

 Theie are many people prepared to argue that, since 

 the boiling destroys life, and since the bottle has been 

 sterilized, the appearance of the mould is an 

 instHnce of spontaneous generation. What has hap- 

 pened, is that the resistant spores or 'seeds' of certain 

 fungi or bacteria have withstood the heat and have 

 germinated ; or another explanation might be acci- 

 dental infection during the manipulation. So far as 

 we know at present, there is no such thing as spon- 

 taneous generation. Life will never arise in thoroughly 

 sterilized material that is protected from re-infection. 



Telegony is a subject that often gives rise to very 

 healed discussions between scientists and bretders. 

 In particular, it is a theory which is firmly believed in 

 by breeders of dogs. 



Its piinciple is thit females are impregnated in 

 some way by the first males to which they are bred, so 

 that all their subsequent offspring, regardless nf their 

 actual father, will show influence of the first male. Space 

 will not permit a discussion of the subject here*, but it 

 may be definitely stated that a previous gestation of a 

 female carries with it no predetermined effects : there 

 are no other progenitors but the direct one. The first 

 gestation may po.ssibly have some constitutional effect 

 upon the mother and modify the environmental 

 conditions under which a new f(e*us develops in the 

 womb:biit that) the gametic constitution of this progeny 

 is affected, we have no evidence whatsoever. 



In spite of this being true, we continually hear 

 persons contending an opposite opinion. Most of 

 these people have never studied the subject iroin 

 a detached, scientific point of view - they often 

 base their views on a ' single incident in their 

 experience, the conditions furrounding which were 

 probably uncontrolled, making any important inferences 

 «iuite unreliable, 'i'he harm done through this 

 obstinate tenacity to pet theories cannot be 

 overestimated. 



There arc other people at the present, day who 

 Still hold to iduasof thi; Middle Ages in regard to the 

 origin of species. They actually believe in the Adam 

 and Kve origin of mankind : that the world was made 



*'riie reiwler id refuned to n fairly exliauntlve article on 

 the suliject by Dr. Eti<Tine H.ibiind in Hie ./"icii'if ofUieA- 

 iiy. Vol! V, |.p. -.im-W). 



in six days, and so on. The most superficial 

 study of biology and geology will suggest the 

 evolutionary <irigin of living things, while a study 

 of the standard works oh the subject will convince 

 those who are sufficiently educated and intelligent 

 to understand. 



Another die-hard' is the miasma theory of 

 malaria. In this theory the cause of malaria is attri- 

 buted to a miasma or mist which rises from swamps 

 and marshes. It was very natural for the earlier observ- 

 ers to get this idea, for the prevalence of malaria is, as 

 we know, closely associated with the presence of stao'- 

 nant water. But the true nature of thisassoci ition was 

 only realized after the discovery of the causative ort^an- 

 ism of malaria, and after the still greater discovery that 

 it is transmitted to man by the Anopheles mosquito. 

 Anopheles, like all mosquitoes, breeds in still 

 water. Therefore, if there is no still water there 

 can be no Anopheles ; and if there are no Anopheles 

 there can be no malaria. In spite of adequate 

 proof of the facts underlying this reasoning, it is 

 possible to find even medical men who still adhere to 

 the theory of miasma. The mischief caused by a wrong 

 theory like this is very gmt indeed. It tends to 

 shake the public's belief in the sanitary measures so 

 fc.ssential for the prevention of malaria. It is particu- 

 larly harmful when the majority of the people are 

 half-educated natives. These people are only 

 loo ready to accept as true the simplest and 

 most primitive of explanations. It is almost as harm- 

 ful to spread the miasma theory amongst natives in 

 the tropics as it would be to spread malaria itself. 



The mischief of wrong theories is not confined 

 to physical and biological matters. There is a great 

 deal of harm done by means of wrong socialistic ideas. 

 I'lie Doturious liiie iii thi present day is Bolshevism. 

 The equal division of wealth is impossible as a 

 permanent condition. The Russian attempts to enforce 

 it are criminal and insane. Even the less violent but 

 none the less destructive policy of certain sections of 

 labour in Great Britain is partly based on wrong 

 iheories. Those who spread these wrong theories are 

 responsible for the great economic losses that that 

 '•'untry is now experiencing. 



We cannot refrain from suggesting that \vroiig 

 theories uiiderly some of the socialistic articles that 

 appear in West Indian newspapers. The effect of 

 these articles is merely to cause agitation and unrest 

 amongst those who are at present le ist. fitted for greater 

 res.p>iiisibilities. The artichss have no educational or 

 con.structive value. The object of the press should 



