138 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



students of nature's processes, wheth- 

 er you have not seen enough to con- 

 vince you that the revival of the 

 assumption which has been aban- 

 doned and reintroduced many times 

 during the last few centuries, that the 

 lifeless is the sole origin of the living 

 — that in fact the non-living and the 

 living are one — is now unjustifiable, 

 and cannot be reasonably entertained. 

 This monstrous fallacy, though taught 

 with the greatest confidence, is based 

 on assumptions, and is supported by 

 arbitrarily selected facts, and by not 

 a few misrepresentations and dog- 

 matic assertions. Whenever any form 

 of this false doctrine has been suc- 

 cessfully forced into popularity, it 

 has led to the adoption and propaga- 

 tion of the most grevious errors and 

 grotesque conceits. 



EDITORIAL. 



— The Editor is now engaged in 

 a systematic examination of articles 

 of food, preliminary to a report upon 

 the subject which is to be made next 

 fall. In the course of this work a 

 number of typical slides will be pre- 

 pared, and, although it is not intend- 

 ed to place them in the market for 

 sale, if any readers desire to obtain 

 a set of these preparations, they can 

 do so by subscribing immediately. 

 Only a .sufficient number to fill or- 

 ders in advance will be prepared. 

 For prices, see the advertisement on 

 another page. 



Dr. Beale's Address. — We take 

 pleasure in presenting rather a long 

 abstract of this Address, not because 

 we are fully in accord with the posi- 

 tion assumed by Dr. Beale, with re- 

 gard to some of the problems under 

 discussion, but because, in spite of 

 his somewhat dogmatic, and, as it 

 seems to us, at times rather unfair 

 criticisms, we regard him as one of 

 the most able and most conscientious 

 opponents of what he designates the 



" materialistic tendencies of what is 

 miscalled the science of our time." 

 There can be no question, in the 

 minds of those who are familiar with 

 Dr. Beale's observations upon cell- 

 growth, — the phenoipena of assimila- 

 tion, and the production of formed 

 material from living matter — that to 

 him we are indebted for the most 

 rational account of the processes of 

 life, as revealed by careful study with 

 the microscope. It is only when he 

 goes beyond the field of direct ob- 

 servation, and enters the arena of 

 philosophical speculation as an oppo- 

 nent of thet heories, or hypotheses, of 

 evolution and gradual development, 

 that we cannot accept his guidance. 

 Even here his arguments would carry 

 greater weight if they were more tol- 

 erant, and if there were less dis- 

 position shown to misinterpret the 

 words of those whom he opposes ; 

 for this he sometimes does by a too 

 literal rendering of expressions which 

 are intended to be one generally 

 illustrative. 



A New Periodical. — The Micro- 

 scope and its Relation to Medicine and 

 Pharmacy is the name of a bi-month- 

 ly journal, edited by Prof. Chas. H 

 Stowell, M. D., and Louisa R. Sto- 

 well, M. S., assistant in microscopical 

 botany, in the University of Michi- 

 gan. The second number has been 

 issued, and it contains several inter- 

 esting articles, with illustrations. We 

 do not wish to be hypercritical, but this 

 new publication falls below our ex- 

 pectations in several respects. The 

 number before us is not carefully 

 edited, as is strikingly shown by an 

 article which originally came from 

 these pages, but which was copied 

 from a summary published elsewhere, 

 and now appears under the heading, 

 " Carbon and the Germ Theory," 

 We would regard the error as a 

 misprint did not the word " carbon " 

 appear several times instead of the 

 proper word — charbon. It may be ow- 

 ing to our conservative notions, but we 

 cannot approve of the general tone of 



