104 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lends. 



of development, it is to be hoped that by its further pur- 

 suance much light will be thrown upon fundamental vital 

 processes. 



The tendency to-day, especially among the younger men, 

 is to depart from the older lines of investigation and to strike 

 at the solution of the activities of living things by the use of 

 the experimental method, to reduce, in so far as possible, 

 vital activities to known laws of physics and chemistry, and 

 to thus attack the fundamental problems of life. A glance 

 at the biological journals of the day will convince one of the 

 absorbing interest which is displayed on every hand in ex- 

 perimental work, and the number of their pages which are 

 being devoted to these researches is sufficient evidence of the 

 present tendency- Such problems as the effect of external 

 agencies, temperature, light, gravity, electricity, chemical 

 stimuli, etc, upon protoplasm in all its forms and conditions 

 are being eagerly investigated. One of the most recent 

 results obtained from investigations of this nature is the 

 startling discovery a short time ago that unfertilized eggs of 

 the sea-urchin, when subjected for a time to the action of 

 certain inorganic salts in definite solutions, develop partheno- 

 genetically into normal larvae. Where this discovery will 

 lead us, to what degree it will cause us to reconstruct our 

 conceptions of fertilization and hereditary transmission, it is 

 too early to say, but it is probable that it will necessitate a 

 considerable remodeling of some of our present ideas. 



The whole subject of experimental morphology is too young 

 to surmise what results it will yield in the future, but it un- 

 doubtedly gives promise of brilliant achievements. It is a 

 field of research which is attracting manv of our ablest biolo- 

 gists who feel little confidence of progress along the lines of 

 speculation and discussion which have so largely occupied 

 zoologists and botanists since Darwin's time. 



It is not too much to hope, however, that in this new de- 

 parture of experimental research we may be led to the discovery 

 of some of the unknown forces which confront us in the last 

 analysis of all vital phenomena. 



Issued July 3, 1901. 



