12 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



what may or what may not be. It would not surprise us were the wildest 

 dreams of the mediicval alchymist to come true. Though we may not 

 have discovered the philosopher's stone, the transmutation of matter is 

 a demonstrated fact. Indeed, th'e creation of a new element has but 

 lately been announced. Should this be confirmed, there would seem 

 to be, theoretically, at least, no limit to the possibilities. The creation 

 of a living organism by a process of chemical synthesis will not, at any 

 rate, we may be sure, take the form of a highly complex being, endowed 

 with intelligence to comfort or to bless or, an incarnated Frankenstein, 

 to blight and destroy, but will be one of the simplest, most elementarj' 

 forms of matter that can be conceived of as possessing vital properties. 



