July, 1906.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



4«5 



of the living org-anism. With it is associated also tlie 

 power of adaptation to changing external relations (for 

 instance, to change of the accessible food supply) and, 

 amongst higher forms, to changes of climate, to 

 changes of habitat, to or from a flat or a mountainous 

 region; that is, to the consequent alteration in the mode 

 of life and in the various instinctive activities. It is 

 only by means of this power of adaptation that self- 

 preservation becomes possible in the face of changes in 

 these relations. 



Since all this adaptability (conformability), as it is 

 called, in the activities of the organisms, serves only to 

 prolong their existence, it is more appropriate to speak 

 of the persistence than of the adaptability of the 

 organisms, and to speak of their recuperative and pro- 

 gressive activities rather than of their adaptable activi- 

 ties, a suggestion (v. No. 1, p. 214) accepted by vari- 

 ous authors (eg., Ostwald) and attacked by oil.eis 

 (e.g., Kd. v. Hartmann). 



No form which does not exhibit all these activities 

 can be described as even the lowest kind of living 

 organism. But where these exist we need not concern 

 ourselves with their origin or special chemical and 

 physical nature. It is, however, essential that such 

 forms should, in addition, possess special properties in 

 order to continue their existence on the earth. They 

 must, for instance, be insoluble in water, since they 

 would otherwise be liable to be destroyed by the fre- 

 quent rains, and so would not be able to persist through 

 the centuries nor reach any further stage of develop- 

 ment. 



The higher organisms possess, in addition, many 

 other properties, as, for instance, the power of as- 

 suming various forms (the spontaneous development of all 

 characteristics of class, genus, species, &"c.), and the 

 manifold psychological activities, all of which are deter- 

 mined according to the substance of the organisms, but 

 do not now concern us. To emphasise once more the 

 essential point; the organisms participate in the renewal 

 and preservation of all their special " typical " 

 mechanisms of self-determination and self-preservation, 

 as well as in the production of the outer factors which 

 are determined from within; that is, which depend on 

 their own physico-chemical structure. " Typical " in 

 this definition is a more strictly limiting conception than 

 " normal," which has hitherto been adopted ' 



Turning now from what is known to the experiments 

 of which mention has been made, let us ask whether 

 the forms produced in each of the two experiments 

 present all these primary activities of life. 



Of Burke's forms it is only asserted that they grow 

 and subdivide. We must, in the first place, enquire 

 whether this growth is " spontaneous growth " ; in 

 other words, whether it takes place in accordance with 

 the characteristic growth of the organisms by means of 

 new living substance formed in and by the organism 

 itself, by assimilation of other materials within the 

 organism, and not, like crystal growths, consisting of 

 accretion of external materials surrounding it, even 

 though these materials have been produced by the in- 

 fluence of the form itself, or whether it depends only on 

 a propagation of this influence, like the propagation of 

 warmth, or of diffusion. 



In the second place we must ask whether the sub- 

 division of the forms which has been observed is reallv 

 spontaneous subdivision, and whether it takes place by 

 means of influences which are determined within the 

 organism in accordance with its nature. On this point 

 nothing is said, but it may, perhaps, be the case. It 

 • See No. 2, p. i8i. 



may, however, be remarked that apparent subdivision 

 takes place under many conditions. For instance, if 

 w-e place a drop of alcohol on water, or a drop of oil on 

 a solution of soda, the drop divides very quickly, and 

 apparently spontaneously, into four parts; in reality, 

 however, it is divided by the influence of the surface 

 tension. Nor is the rosette-like arrangement peculiar 

 to or characteristic only of living forms. 



It will be seen at once that the main point is absent in 

 the " observed " activities of Burke's forms; the proof, 

 namely, that these activities correspond to the same 

 activities in the lowest forms of life, that they are, in 

 fact, " spontaneous activities " of the organisms. Be- 

 sides, it is not probable that the mechanism of the two 

 very different "organic " activities, assimilation and 

 spontaneous subdivision, could be effected in so direct 

 a manner; that is, by the direct energy of radium alone. 

 But even if this were possible and had here taken place, 

 these forms might still be considered as very interesting 

 preliminary stages of life, as " probionts " (Probiontcn), 

 but not as representing even the lowest forms of life, 

 for they are without the activities of spontaneous dis- 

 similation, of spontaneous secretion of changed 

 materials, and of the spontaneous movement which is 

 characteristic of living organisms, as well as of the 

 -spontaneous regulation of the performance of all 

 activities. 



Although the results of Littlefield's experiments are 

 said to be different from those of Burke's, they are yet 

 less inconclusive as to the artificial production of living 

 forms. I have repeated these experiments and obtained 

 results which in many ways apparently correspond to 

 those described, but I ascribe to them a wholly different 

 significance. 



On the saturated ammoniacal solution of common 

 salt in alcohol many small separate forms appeared 

 moving hither and thither. But scraps of filaments 

 arising from the impurity of the liquid floated about in 

 the same direction, thus showing that the movements of 

 the individual forms are not active, but passive, de- 

 pending on the motion of the liquid. This, however, is 

 by the way. 



On the evaporating circumference of the drop, crystals 

 separate, many of which have an area of liquid which 

 has either been left on them or has possibly caught on 

 them or has run over them. Thus we have forms 

 which closely resemble cells. The liquid area mav also 

 have processes which, in consequence of further drv- 

 ing or of the altered surface tension, change their form 

 and so present the appearance of slow amoeboid move- 

 ment. But in all these it is only a question of forms 

 arising from unequal moistening capacity of the glass, 

 or its unequal surface and unequal surface tension. 

 Anyone can produce similar forms to any extent by 

 pouring water over a glass plate held obliquely; after 

 most of the water has run awav such forms are visible 

 to the naked eye. If there are on the glass plate small 

 unevennesscs or dusty spots which are more easily 

 moistened, the liquid collects on these parts, and on 

 looking at it from above we again have the cell form 

 with the nucleus in the middle and processes outwards, 

 the latter of which change their form on further con- 

 traction or moistening. These well-known phenomena 

 show that forms may be produced resembling amoeba?, 

 but without their essential characteristics. Besides, the 

 motion of amoeba; often depends on alteration of sur- 

 face tension through external causes. But in the case 

 of their spontaneously regulated movements the move- 

 ment is produced from within and is definitclv charac- 

 terised. 



Moreover, numerous pale yellow, very small and 



