123 



Amoeba when its chemical condition is changed. There were, he thought, in- 

 stances where the motion of living particles was stopped and afterwards res- 

 tored, as when living matter is kept frozen for many years without being des- 

 troyed. Salmon ova were frozen and afterwards developed; it was customary to 

 send out salmon ova to Australia frozen and packed up in ice, and it was restored 

 to its former condition again on arrival. If, however, ova are boiled, they 

 undergo a chemical change, and no recovery takes place after, just because it is 

 impossible to restore their original chemical condition. It must, perhaps, be 

 admitted that they had no clear evidence to show that spontaneous geueration 

 takes place, although he (Mr. Lowne) looked forward to the day when he be- 

 lieved that evidence would be forthcoming ; at present the evidence was un- 

 doubtedly contradictory. He (Mr, Lowne) maintained that molecular changes 

 in inorganic matter and those of the Amoeba were not different in kind, but 

 only in degree. 



Dr. Beale asked if Mr. Lowne could give him a single instance in which any 

 kind of matter except living matter ever moved in different parts in many 

 different directions at the same moment of time ? 



Mr. Lowne, though not quite clear as to what was meant by moving in differ- 

 ent directions at the same time, knew that a particle of colloid burnt sugar 

 placed in a saucer of water would make movements quite compatible with those 

 of Amoeba. With regard to death as a property of living matter, Mr. Lowne 

 regarded it entirely as the effect of chemical change and altered conditions. 



Dr. Henry Lawson thought that it was almost useless to carry on the discus* 

 siou, seeing that it involved so many questions which could not at present be 

 decided. Dr. Beale had in his paper brought forward opinions which he had 

 already largely written upon, and which must be regarded as very valuable, but 

 still he thought that with regard to the question of development, it must be 

 considered for the present to be unsettled. Dr. Beale had, he thought, rendered 

 great service, and had done more than anyone to get rid of the idea of cells, or 

 certain circular or oval bodies containing a nucleus, being the starting points 

 of all tissues ; but admitting this, there remained the question whether it was 

 the nucleus in the surrounding protoplasm which usually had to do with the 

 development of the tissues. On this point he thought that they had as yet no 

 evidence which would conclusively decide, and whilst he did not think that Dr. 

 Beale had completely proved his case, and he himself leaned towards Wolff's 

 ideas, he admitted that these were not so clearly proved in some cases as to 

 entirely exclude the view taken by Dr. Beale ; and the only present conclusion 

 to be arrived at was that there was a great deal to be said on both sides. He 

 thought, however, that in the case of the development of bone, there was 

 tolerably good proof that the so-called cell wall was concerned in the growth 

 rather than in the nucleus itself. He thought that on examination of the struc- 

 ture of bone, evidence could be seen in its immature condition that the so- 

 called cell wall was, in point of fact, the structural centre, and became the 

 lacuna which frequently contained within it tlie dried-up nucleus. In making 

 these few observations he was not attempting to enter into the subject generally, 

 but rather to draw attention to the more valuable points in the paper. Per- 

 sonally he might say he was more inclined to Mr. Lowne's views than to those 

 of Dr. Beale, but he was quite ready to admit that the question was as yet very 

 far from being settled. 



Mr. W. H. Golding suggested that it seemed doubtful whether they yet had 

 any means of ascertaining what amount of heat or cold living matter was 



