302 



aid of a mica-lamella, of J A, as often used in optics. In this way 

 the transformation of methyl-ethyl-cyano-acetic acid into methyl- ethyl- 

 aceto-nitrile, and that of symmetrical dichloro-dimethyl-succinic acid 

 into dichloro-dimethyl-propionic acid, was studied by them. The 

 results were negative, and only optically wactive products were 

 obtained in the reactions. 



The experiments of Rosenthal, 1 ) who claimed to have hy- 

 drolised highly complicated carbohydrates in an oscillatory electro- 

 magnetic field, are not confirmed by later investigations, and may 

 therefore be passed over here. 



12. However an indirect proof of the possibility, -- even of 

 the necessity, of such a total asymmetric synthesis on earth, 

 has been given by the reasonings, and by some experiments, of 

 B y k. 2 ) His suppositions are based on a number of facts which 

 were previously established by other investigators, and which, 

 when combined, seem to be adapted to prove the possibility that 

 there is such a one-sided formation of optically active matter, 

 as searched for in the problem under consideration. He points 

 out that a supposition as made in the discussion by Japp a.o., 

 previously mentioned, never can explain the one-sidedness of natural 

 synthesis. Such a separation by mere chance, or by some acci- 

 dental cause such as whirl-winds, etc., of an optically active germ 

 from an externally-compensated mixture, created by spontaneous 

 crystallisation, as it was supposed by some of the authors men- 

 tioned, would in the immeasurable periods of geological evolution, 

 even under the best conditions only have led to ah externally 

 compensated, or a pseudo-racemic world, but never to the one- 

 sided material world we actually have. No other causes can be 

 taken into account therefore when considering the origin of the 

 first optically active substance, than those physical causes outside 

 the range of life, which are dissymetrical in themselves, in the 

 sense explained in Chapter V. 



Now Byk tries to prove that such a one-sided cause has 

 existed on earth for immeasurable ages, and more particularly, 

 that the source of photochemical energy having the special dis- 

 symmetry necessary for such total asymmetric synthesis, was the 

 circularly polarised light, reflected, - - while under the influence 



1) J. Rosenthal, Sitzber. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin (1908), /. p. 20. 



2) A. Byk, Ber. d. d. Chem. Ges. 37. 4696. (1904); Zeits. f. phys. Chemie, 49. 

 641. (1905). 



