NA TURE 



[November io, 1904 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 {The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. 



The columns of the daily papers have during the last two 

 weel-ts contained many references to the question of the 

 ■origin of life. One of the most recent utterances has been 

 that of Lord Kelvin, who has roundly declared himself an 

 unbeliever in the natural origin of living matter either in 

 the present or in the past. We must suppose, therefore, 

 that in reference to this question he is content to believe 

 in miracles. 



Prof. Ray Lankester and Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, how- 

 ever, proclaim themselves, as followers of Huxley, believers 

 in evolution generally, and in the natural origin of living 

 matter in the past. They, like many others, refuse to 

 believe that it takes place at the present time, because un- 

 doubted proof of its occurrence cannot be produced by 

 laboratory experiments. The uniformity of natural pheno- 

 mena \vould certainly lead us to believe, as Sir Oliver Lodge 

 has intimated, that if such a process occurred in the past, it 

 should have been continually occurring ever since — so long 

 as there is no evidence to show cause for a break in the 

 great law of Continuity. Certainly no such evidence has 

 ever been produced, and if the origin of living matter takes 

 place by the generation in suitable fluids of the minutest 

 particles gradually appearing from the region of the in- 

 visible,^ such a process may be occurring everywhere in 

 nature's laboratories, though altogether beyond the ken 

 •of man. 



My point may be illustrated thus. Bacteriologists all 

 over Europe and elsewhere have been working for the last 

 thirty years by strict laboratory methods, and notwithstand- 

 ing all that they have made out and the good that has 

 thereby accrued to suffering humanity, thev have apparently 

 never yet seen the development from Zooglcea aggregates 

 of Fungus-germs, of flagellate Monads, or of Amcebs. If, 

 however, they would only examine what goes on in nature's 

 laboratory when a mixed bacterial scum forms on suitable 

 fluids, they would have no difficulty in satisfying themselves 

 -as to the reality of these processes. I described such pro- 

 cesses in your columns in 1870, more fullv in the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society in 1872, and finally in my " Studies 

 in Heterogenesis " (pp. 65-S4, pis. vi. and vii.. Figs. 53-71). 

 Even during the last week I have again obtained photo- 

 Tiiicrographs demonstrating the origin of flagellate Monads 

 from Zooglcea aggregates forming in a bacterial scum, and 

 if you will admit an illustrated communication on this sub- 

 ject to your columns, proving by such a test case my position 

 as to the reality of heterogenesis, I shall be happy to present 

 It, and to show that something beyond the recognised strict 

 Jaboratory methods of the day is needed if we are to fathom 

 .some of nature's deepest secrets. 



The councils of the Royal and Linnean Societies are 

 guided in the acceptance of papers bv referees who are 

 wedded, on biological questions, to labo'ratory methods. It 

 IS useless for me, therefore, again to attempt to submit 

 •such a communication to them. Their referees (probably not 

 having worked at such subjects themselves) would not advise 

 the acceptance of the paper, and my communication might 

 simply be consigned to their archives. The Royal Society 

 " for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge'' on two 

 occasions would not even allow me to submit my views to 

 the consideration of, and discussion by, its fellows. In these 

 circumstances. Sir, I appeal to you, in the interests of 

 science, to allow me to send you an illustrated paper proving, 

 so far as such proof can go, the heterogenetic origin of 

 flagellate Monads and of Fungus-germs. 



H. Ch.\RLTON B.4STIAN. 



Manchester Square, October 31. 



[Ix reply to Dr. Bastian's appeal we will print his com- 

 munication, and also any important replies from competent 

 workers on the subject which may be sent to us. — Ed.] 



NO. 1828, VOL. 71] 



Average Number of Kinsfolk in each Degree. 



I WAS glad to read the first paragraph of the reply by 

 Prof. G. H. Bryan to my letter, in which he acknowledges 

 his mistake, but I cannot allow the second paragraph to 

 pass without protest, in which he says " the discrepancy 

 can be accounted for more simply still " in a way he de- 

 scribes. I do not wholly understand his present view, but 

 only enough of it to be assured that it is vitiated by some 

 fundamental misconception. In these circumstances it is 

 best to re-state my original argument in different words. 

 We agree to start on the assumptions that boys and girls 

 are on the average equally numerous, and that all other 

 conditions are to be ignored. Then, if an individual be 

 taken out of a family of 2d children, 2d — i children will be 

 left, of whom d — i will, on the average of many experiences. 

 be girls and d — J will be boys. The sex of the individual 

 who was taken out in the first instance is quite unimportant ; 

 the result will be the same whether that individual be a 

 boy or a girl. 



Prof. G. H. Bryan thinks, if I understand him rightly, 

 that the sex of the individual in question is of importance. 



.Some persecuting demon must have again caused my pen to 

 write and my eye to overlook an absurdly erroneous figure 

 in my last letter. The faulty passage runs "... is 80 

 ( = 25X16, as it should be) "; the 16 ought to be replaced 

 by 32. It is intended to be quoted from the right hand 

 column of line (5) in the table which accompanies that letter. 



Francis Galtox. 



Misuse of Words and Phrases. 



In the preface to my book on " Cubic and Quartic 

 Curves " I have stated my views on the matters referred 

 to in the last paragraph of T. B. S.'s letter. I am a strong 

 advocate of the use and, if necessary, the invention of 

 words of classical origin to express new ideas, and I consider 

 the phrase self-cutting inelegant. 



My objection to the phrase non-singular cubic or quartic 

 curve is that no such curves exist, since Plucker has shown 

 that all algebraic curves, except proper conies, possess a 

 determinate number of singularities. Thus anautotomic 

 quartics possess ^2 simple singularities, viz. 28 double and 

 24 stationary tangents. It is also possible for such curves 

 to possess compound singularities, formed by the union of 

 one double and two stationary tangents. 



With regard to the use of an, the rule is that before a 

 word beginning with a vowel an is to be used instead of a 

 for the sake of euphony, but when a word beginning with 

 a vowel is pronounced as if it commenced with a consonant, 

 a must be used instead of an. The phrases such an one, an 

 uniform rod, an wonderful sunset, an yetu tree, are all 

 equally incorrect. A. B. Basset. 



November 4. 



The Coming Shower of Leonids. 



The pretty abundant shower of Leonids witnessed last 

 year encourages the hope that a fairly rich return may be 

 observed this year. There will be no moonlight to interfere 

 with the brilliancy of the display should it occur, and the 

 most probable time of its apparition will be before sunrise 

 on November 15. 



In igo3 the maximum occurred between 5 and 6 a.m. 

 on November 16, and, allowing for leap year, the ensuing 

 maximum should take place on November 15 at about noon. 

 The shower seems likely to be observed to the best advantage 

 at American stations, as in 1901, but it should be carefully 

 watched everywhere, and with a special view to ascertain 

 the hour of greatest abundance. 



It is to be hoped that some further attempts will be made 

 to determine the place of the radiant by photography. We 

 have already a sufficient number of eye observations of the 

 position, and the work of ordinary observers will be better 

 directed to counting the number of meteors visible at regular 

 intervals during the night, and registering the most brilliant 

 objects. The meteors from other showers should also be 

 noted, and especially any conspicuous Taurids that may 

 appear. The latter by their slow long flights and yellow 

 trains are readily to be distinguished from the swiftly moving 

 Leonids with their green streaks. W. F. Dkxninc. 



Owing to the large numbers of shooting stars visible on 

 the night of November 15, 1903, the expectation of witness- 



