316 



getically than the stable phases under the same conditions, and their 

 assimilation will, therefore, occur more easily and more rapidly in 

 the physiological processes of the living organism. Moreover, as soon 

 as such a lower symmetrical molecule, different from its mirror- 

 image, has once been created within the living cell, the one-sidedness 

 of further synthesis is not only fully conceivable, but it is even a 

 necessity, as we have seen above. Asymmetrical synthesis can 

 no longer be considered as being the prerogative of life, although 

 its typical one-sidedness is certainly acquired as the result of func- 

 tions slowly developed in the general course of organic evolution; 

 and the line line of demarcation traced by vitalists, can, at least 

 in principle, also be considered to have disappeared. 



For although, as already stated, the one-sidedness of natural 

 synthetical processes is no longer to be regarded as inconceivable, 

 and although even these facts are now brought completely within 

 the scope of our laboratory-experiments, the great fundamental 

 problem of performing directly a complete asymmetrical synthesis, 

 remains yet to be solved. 



It was Meyer 1 ) who in 1903 again laid stress on this side of 

 the question, and who pointed quite rightly to the insufficiency 

 of the experiments made up till now for this purpose. His remarks 

 as to the special symmetry of the magnetic field in Boyd's experi- 

 ments are absolutely justified. With a magnetic field alone, a result 

 of this kind can never be expected; for the homogeneous magnetic 

 field has the symmetry Cg (Chapter V), and thus has a plane of 

 symmetry perpendicular to its lines of force. If, however, as proposed 

 by Meyer, a polarized lightbeam, having the symmetry C^, travel 

 through the magnetic field in a direction parallel to its lines of force, 

 the superposition of these two occurrences is equivalent to the 

 production of a physical cause compatible with the symmetry of 

 the group C n where n is < 2. Indeed, the magnetic rotation of the 

 plane of polarisation of such a ray as is really observed in this case, 

 is a phenomenon having the symmetry C^ . This symmetry is not 

 qualified by the existence of any symmetry-element of the second 

 order, and in this case, when the phenomenon considered may be 

 simultaneously a cause of chemical action, the result might even- 

 tually be such as desired. The same is true, and in the authors 



l ) ]. Meyer, Jahresber. der Schles. Ges. f. vaterl. Kultur, lie Abt., Dez. 

 (1903), p. 34; Chem. Zeitg., (1904), p. 41. 



