I9I3] General 123 



applied to principles which do not excite, but check activity. For 

 these he suggested the term chalone ( f rom x<^^^^' I relax) . It is, 

 however, desirable to have a term which includes both the hormones 

 and chalones. The one quality which distinguishes them is their 

 drug-like effect on the organs and tissues. A convenient term, 

 suggested by Prof. W. R. Wardie, is autacoid substance. 



Discussion of the origin of life. A large audience attended a 

 combined meeting of the sections of physiology, zoology and botany 

 for a discussion on the origin of life. At this meeting the subject 

 was introduced by Dr. B. Moore, prof. of biochemistry in the Univ. 

 of Liverpool. He regarded the problem as an experimental one 

 and Said that he could demonstrate a step which connected inorganic 

 with organic matter. The world of living plants and animals de- 

 pends on the synthesis of organic from inorganic Compounds by the 

 chlorophyl of plants acting as a transformer of light energy into 

 chemical energy. This State of affairs must have evolved from 

 something more simple, for chlorophyl is one of the most complex 

 of known organic substances. In considering the origin of life the 

 Start must be made in a purely inorganic world. As the results of 

 eighteen months' experimental work, he believed that he has ob- 

 tained evidence of the first step in organic evolution. When dilute 

 Solutions of colloidal ferric hydroxid or the corresponding uranium 

 Compound are exposed to strong sunlight, there are ."vnthesized the 

 same Compounds as are formed in the first stage of organic syn- 

 thesis by the green plant — formaldehyd and formic acid. If now 

 they considered a planet cooling down and exposed to sunlight, at 

 first Clements only would be present. As it cooled, binary Com- 

 pounds would form and then simple crystalloid salts. By the union 

 of Single molecules into groups of fifty or sixty, colloidal aggregates 

 appeared. As these increased in complexibility they became more 

 delicately balanced (labile). They were easily destroyed by sudden 

 changes in environment, but within certain limits were peculiarly 

 sensitive to energy changes and could take up energy in one form 

 and transform it into another. These labile colloids took up water 

 and carbon dioxid and, utilizing the sunlight Streaming onto the 

 plant, produced the simplest organic structures. Next these struc- 

 tures reacting with themselves and with nitrogenous inorganic mat- 



