328 



NATURE 



{August 1 6, 1877 



that bacteria are invariably killed by exposure to a temperature 

 of about 140° F. or more. Are not these facts strong evidence 

 of abiogenesis ? No : and for tlie following reasons : — 



1. Although bacteria infallibly die at the above-named tem- 

 perature their spores may not ; and this is more than probable 

 since Dallinger and Drysdale have demonstrated that while 

 certain septic monads are destroyed on heating to 140^ F., their 

 spores survived a heat of 300° F. 



2. Cohn has examined the organisms which arise under the 

 conditions named, viz., in boiled hay-infusions, and he has 

 demonstrated that they are never a new creation as might have 

 been expected, but invariably the well-known bacterian Bacillus 

 subtilis. Is it possible to believe, in the face of the whole theory 

 of evolution, that abiogenesis is able at one stroke, and within 

 seventy hours, to produce such a specialised organism as this ? 



3. Saprophytes are devoid of chlorophyll and hence cannot 

 assimilate carbonic anhydride ; they get their carbon exclusively 

 from more complex carbon compounds. Hence, at least, it 

 must be granted that saprophytes cannot have been the pri- 

 mordial forms of life ; and the probability of the spontaneous 

 generation of such organisms, even granting spontaneous gene- 

 ration as an existing process, falls in proportion. 



In the second division of his address Dr. Roberts discussed 

 the pathology of three infective diseases the cause of which has 

 been traced in each case to infective organisms, viz., septicaemia, 

 relapsing fever, and splenic fever. Without entering into details, 

 it may be allowed to notice that Dr. Roberts, alluding to the 

 subject of the antiseptic treatment of wounds, spoke of the need 

 of a broader view of its principle, the essence of which is not to 

 protect the wound from septic organisms, but to Jefcml the patient 

 against the septic poison generated under the influence of those 

 organisms, an end which may be obtained either by the method 

 of Prof. Lister of rigid exclusion of the septic organisms or by 

 preventing the absorption of the pyrogen product, as, e.g., by 

 allowing free exit for the discharges by the open method of 

 treatment. 



In conclusion, Dr. Roberts pointed to the fact that there exists 

 a remarkable morphological identity between the organisms of 

 certain infective diseases and other quite harmless saprophytes. 

 Thus Bacillus anlhracis of splenic fever only differs from Bacillus 

 subtilis in the fact that its rods are motionless : while the spirilla 

 of relap.sing fever are identical in form and botanical characters 

 with Spirochate plicatilis of Ehrenberg. May not these coinci- 

 dences, he suggests, point to a natural explanation of the origin 

 of contagia ? May not the harmful organisms be merely varia- 

 tions or sports from the harmless saprophytes resembling them, 

 just as the bitter almond is a sport from the sweet, and the 

 nectarine from the peach ? May not typhoid fever for example, be 

 explained as due to a variation from some common saprophyte 

 of our stagnant pools or sewers, which under certain conditions 

 of its own surroundings or certain conditions \vithin the human 

 body, acquires a parasitic habit ? 



On Thursday the members of the Association assembled to 

 hear the special address in Surgery by Mr. T. Spencer Wells, 

 F.R.C.S. After giving a retrospect of the progress of surgery, 

 and noticing the important advances made during quite recent 

 times, the speaker said : — 



"A certain section of the community, well-meaning it may be, 

 but led astray by thoughtless enthusiasts or self-interested itine- 

 rant lecturers, vehemently asserts that if we are to perfect our- 

 selves in these or in other modes of saving human life or lessening 

 human suffering, we must only do so by practice upon the human 

 subject ; we must not, as a surgeon or a physiologist, take the 

 life of a dog or a cat, a rabbit or a sheep, a pigeon or a frog, for 

 any scientific purpose, or mth the object of benefiting the human 

 race. Anybody may slaughter oxen and sheep by thousands for 

 human food in any way he pleases, oysters may be eaten alive, 

 the pheasant or the partridge, the fox or the deer may be ex- 

 pressly reared to supply the sportsman with exercise or the 

 amusement of killing — in a word, the lower animals may be 

 devoted to the use of man for any purpose that is not scientific. 

 But if a surgeon experimentally sacrifices half a dozen dogs or 

 rabbits in the hope of improving some operation which may 

 prevent the loss of human life or lessen human suffering, he is 

 branded as inhuman, and barely escapes the supervision of the 

 police. Possibly, some of these benevolent individuals will 

 voluntarily offer up themselves to our Committee on Transfusion, 

 in the hope of perfecting the practice. Until they do so, they 

 will perhaps be a little less clamorous if a few sheep or rabbits 

 are used in the cause of humanity." 



Referring afterwards to the rewards of public service in the 



medical profession and the need of medical statesmanship, Mr. 

 Spencer Wells sought to show that it would be both fjust and 

 conducive to the highest public welfare that eminent members of 

 the medical profession should be occasionally admitted to a seat 

 in the House of Lords. 



Tlie Section of Physiology was opened with an address by the 

 president. Prof Arthur Gamgee, F.R.S., of Manchester. After 

 giving a resume of some of the important physiological work of 

 the last year, including an account of the latest contributions by 

 Engehnann and Hermann to the contact theory of the muscular 

 current. Prof. Gamgee referred to the wishes of some physiolo- 

 gists and medical men to destroy the very intimate connection 

 between medical and physiological science which at present 

 exists in England, and depiecated any such attempt, pointing 

 out the benefits which had resulted to both sciences by their 

 mutual reaction. He strongly insisted, however, on the need of 

 a sound preliminary scieniific training for medical stuiients if 

 physiology is not by a natural process to split off from medicine 

 owing to the sheer incapacity of the average medical student to 

 comprehend her teachings. Prof. Gamgee concluded his address 

 by referring to the vivisection agitation, and to the presence of 

 Prof. Ludwig in Manchester, in the follo%ving terms : — 



" We have passed, or rather we are passing, through a period 01 

 great anxiety to physiology. A popular clamour, unfortunately 

 too well known to all of you, has imperilled the studies which 

 we all have so greatly at heart. An Act of Parliament is now 

 in force which, if interpreted in a spirit of hostility to science, 

 might put a stop to these studies. But I trust that ihe spirit of 

 the time, the spirit of justice too, which we think characterizes 

 our countrymen, will render such hostility impossible, and relying 

 upon the justice and enhghtenment of the minister of the Crown 

 to whom the enormous responsibility of carrying out this Act 

 has been entrusted, we venture to predict that the interests of 

 science will not ultimately suffer. 



" I cannot clo.se this address without expressing the gratification 

 and pride with which I see amongst us the eminent man who 

 to-day honours us by his presence. In Carl Ludwig we see one 

 of the three or four men who, more than all others, have helped 

 to build up the present edifice of physiology — a man to whom 

 those of our science will refer in ages yet to come as having, 

 perhaps more than anyone else, introduced methods of precision 

 into physiology, and, by numerous conquests in nearly all its 

 departments, proved their utility. We welcome him amongst us, 

 and beg to assure him that the influence of his teaching extends 

 not only to every university of Germany, but even to us. All 

 of us have more or less directly learned from him, and all of us 

 are, I trust, inspired in some measure by his intense devotion to 

 science. AH would, I hope, emulate to the extent of their 

 powers, the example of the great head of the Leipzig physio- 

 logical school, who, in unselfishly contributing to the success of 

 his pupils, for the furtherance of the science which he loves, has 

 seen the fullest realization of his proudest hopes." 



In the evening the annual dinner of the Association was held 

 in the Large Hall of the Assize Courts. 



Prof. Kronecker, of Berlin, exhibited a 'current inten-upter 

 to secure equal intensity of opening and closing shock. The 

 current is made by the point ol a swinging bar which is kept 

 swinging in a vertical plane by means of an electro-magnet. 

 The point dips into mercury in order to make the current, and 

 leaves the mercury to break it. The surface of the mercury is 

 continually washed free from oxidized metal by a stream of 

 water. 



Prof. M'Kendrick, of Glasgow, read a paper On tJie Physio- 

 logical Action 0/ the Chinoline and Pyridine Series of Compounds, 

 containing the results of an extended research carried on 

 witli the co-operation, first of Prof. Dewar, of Cambridge, 

 and afterwards of Dr. Ramsay, of Glasgow. In justice to 

 Prof. M'Kendrick and his colleagues we will not attempt to give 

 even an outline of the peculiar effects of these series of bodies, 

 especially as the whole of the valuable memoir will shortly be 

 published. But we may call attention to the following in- 

 ferences of more general physiological interest :^ 



1. There is no appreciable difference between the physio- 

 logical action of the bases obtained from chincona and those 

 derived from tar. 



2. All the substances examined are remarkable for not 

 possessing any specific paralytic action on the heart likely to 

 cause syncope, but they destroy life, in lethal dose, either by 

 exhaustive convulsions or by gradual paralysis of the respiratory 

 centres, thus causing asphyxia. There is further no immediate 

 action on the sympathetic system of nerves, but there is 



