268 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[December 1, 1894. 



composition C^H^O, , and the study of their reactions 

 shows that each has two groups COjH, in which the 

 hydrogen is bound to carbon only through the connecting 

 link of the oxygen atom, whereas the remaining two 

 hydrogen atoms are united directly to carbon. Two 

 graphic representations may be made, which in a condensed 

 form appear thus — 



COjH . CH . CH . CO„H 

 and -,rT p _^_^ CO„H 



The latter symbol would indicate that two COoH groups 

 are united to one carbon atom. The reactions of the 

 substance so represented are, however, altogether against 

 this supposition, and the graphic representation therefore 

 fails. If, however, we represent the functions of two of 

 the carbon atoms more fully by symbolizing these atoms as 

 tetrahedra, we can represent very well the observed 

 differences in the two acids, by taking account of the 

 arrangement in the solid instead of regarding the apparent 

 arrangement on the flat. In the symbols given below, the 

 dotted lines of the tetrahedra indicate those edges which 

 would be invisible if we were dealing with a wooden model, 

 or with an opaque crystal of the same form. 



FuMAEic Acid. 



Maleic Acid. 



COoH 



CO.,H 



CO„H 



CO„H 



A class of bodies which it is difficult to represent by any 

 symbol are those known as tautomeric, in which one or 

 more atoms appear to be in a state of alternating allegiance 

 towards their more powerful neighbours. The hydrogen 

 atom, which is the lightest and probably the fastest mover 

 in the dance of atomic vibration, seems in some cases to 

 have certain peculiar privileges of motion within the mole- 

 cule, so that at successive moments it may be joined up to 

 different atoms. 



In the work of synthesizing or building up compounds 

 which occur in Nature, the organic chemists soon out- 

 stripped their "inorganic " brethren. Lately, however, the 

 French representatives of inorganic chemistry have again 

 recovered the lead, and the diamond has been made, while 

 starch and the albuminoids are still beyond the creative 

 powers of the chemist. The early feats of organic synthesis 

 were haOed as a triumph over the old belief in a mysterious 

 litdl force. All substances produced in the life-processes 

 of animals and plants were supposed to owe their existence 

 to the mysterious agencies of life, and to be inimitable by 

 the chemic art. The synthesis of a host of such substances 

 in the laboratory has shown that the mysterious powers 

 of vitality were prematurely invoked, and that failure was 

 pre-supposed when no true trial had been made. The case 

 is somewhat analogous to the mistaken appeal to almost 

 infinite periods of time as the condition of formation of the 

 native crystals of ruby and diamond. In spite of all their 

 past achievements, scientific men are ready enough, like 

 other mortals, to cry out that their go-cart cannot get any 

 further without the aid of some Herculean agency beyond 

 their reach. As a matter of fact, however, the achieve- 

 ments of organic synthesis have only pushed the rital force 

 theory a small distance further back, for none of the 

 reproduced alkaloids, sugars, dyes, etc., are oryanhed 



bodies, or show any sign or symptom of the germ of living 

 power. Recent researches upon the molecular weights of 

 organic substances (chiefly by Eaoult's method, which is 

 based upon the lowering of the freezing-point of solvents) 

 appear to show that the simplest among the substances 

 which are intimately associated with vital processes are of 

 vastly higher molecular weight, and presumably vastly 

 more complicated than any of the substances that have yet 

 been synthesized. The great differences in the size of 

 molecules is perhaps indicated by the phenomena of 

 dialysis, so much used in physiological work for the 

 separation of substances. Crystalloids, sugar for instance, 

 will in solution pass through the pores of an animal 

 membrane such as parchment, whereas colloid substances 

 will not. It seems likely that in such substances, perhaps 

 through the action of atoms such as those of carbon which 

 have a power of multiplex combination, molecules or groups 

 of atoms may "combine to net-like or sponge-like masses. 

 .... We may perhaps further suppose that through 

 the constant change of position of polyvalent atoms, these 

 mass-molecules will show a constant change in the 

 connected individuals, so that the whole . . . . is in a 

 sort of living state."' 



The idea thus brought forward may perhaps be ex- 

 pressed by saying that if ever chemists should succeed in 

 obtaining albumuious bodies artificially, it will be in the 

 state of living protoplasm." (" Rise and Development of 

 Organic Chemistry," p. 261.) Now that an independent 

 cell-life in the organism has been recognized, the distance 

 seems but small which separates the organic chemist 

 from the point where he may be expected to make his 

 first serious attempt to ascertain if living matter can 

 be produced otherwise than by the agency of living matter 

 itself. Not every scientific man would be able to approach 

 this world-old question without a preconceived opinion as 

 to the ultimate answer which Nature has in store. Whatever 

 be the answer which Nature has in store for us, it wiU be 

 a duty to science to work at the problem until it is either 

 solved in the affirmative or, like the transmutation of 

 metals, found by experience to be beyond our power. 

 Hitherto chemistry has not been in a position to attack 

 the problem. The synthesis of organic compounds must 

 be carried still further before science will have a bridge 

 long enough to span the wide and formidable gap which 

 divides our knowledge of the inanimate from that of the 

 living world. 



THE GLOW-WORM. 



By E. A. Butler, B.A., B.So. 



THE townsman seldom has the opportunity, often 

 enjoyed by those who live in country districts, 

 especially in the southern parts of England, of 

 seeing what cannot fail to be regarded as one of 

 the most remarkable sights in Nature, a living 

 animal glowing with light as if it were on fire. The 

 production of light is so frequently a consequence of the 

 phenomenon of combustion, that it is difficult to dissociate 

 them in the mind, and to imagine the former without being 

 impelled to think of the latter, or at least to imagine a 

 considerably elevated temperature. The production of 

 brilliant light without any sensible increase of heat is so 

 unusual a circumstance that it is puzzling to understand 

 how it can take place, and still more, how it can be 



* " In crystals and in dead bodies generally, matter is in static 

 equilibrium .... in living organisms the equilibrium is dynamic." 

 {Sn/ure, Nov., 1894.) 



