MYSTERIES OF LIFE AND MIND 



should turn out to be true, here is a large chapter 

 of physiology that, it would seem, must now be 

 rewritten. 



It would be strange if before the eyes of such 

 an investigator had not fluttered that will-o'-the- 

 wisp which has enchanted so many speculative 

 minds, the problem of prolonging life. But Dr. 

 Loeb's idea is, as one might easily suppose, original 

 and new. His work in parthenogenesis had made 

 it clear that while ordinarily the unfertilized eggs 

 quickly die, simply by normal or chemical fertil- 

 ization they live. Viewed in one light, it is as if 

 there were two distinct processes going on. Death 

 and disintegration are not a mere breaking down, 

 a going to pieces, but a specific process, that is 

 checked by the life process. 



But if such a " mortif erous " action really exists, 

 perhaps it could be checked chemically as well. 

 That is what he tried to see. Potassium cyanide 

 was tried, and it was found that if the unfertilized 

 eggs were placed in a weak solution, they could be 

 kept alive for days. If, then, the .cyanide be al- 

 lowed to evaporate, the eggs may be developed and 

 grow in the normal way. 



It seems paradoxical that life may be thus main- 

 tained by a powerful poison ; but if we conceive of 

 a specific mortal process which may be held in 

 check, and regard the potassium cyanide as sub- 



215 



