EVOLUTION THE MASTER-KEY 



far past, of this evolution was termed by Dr. Charl- 

 tpn Bastian archebiosis ; but Huxley s less-satisfac 

 tory term abio genesis has been preferred, doubtless 

 owing to the great and greatly deserved fame of its 

 inventor. 



Now it is true that boiled fluids, uncontaminated, 

 will remain sterile indefinitely. It is also true that, 

 under the conditions which they set themselves, 

 our experimenters have completely failed to man 

 ufacture life in the laboratory. At best, the 

 most successful followers of M. Berthelot, the great 

 founder of synthetic chemistry, can only manu 

 facture the very simplest forms of proteid or al 

 buminous matter, and this by use of temperatures 

 and effort of which no need is manifested by living 

 nature. 



Furthermore, it is true that if a hay infusion, 

 for instance, be passed through a Pasteur-Cham- 

 berland or Berkefeld filter, which excludes even the 

 minutest of known living organisms, the filtered 

 fluid will remain sterile as long as it is uncontam 

 inated. In so far, this experiment goes to confirm 

 the results obtained by boiling, and the whole ques 

 tion seems closed. 



( Thirty years ago Dr. Charlton Bastian, F.R.S., 

 was among what appeared and still appears to be 

 the defeated party. He believed in spontaneous 

 generation. But other duties claimed him, and his 

 ultimate silence was taken for conviction. He 

 had published important books, with many draw 

 ings made by himself, illustrating what he asserted 



no 



