354 
THE LONDON CONFOINT EXAMINING 
BOARDS 
WE reprint from the British Medical Fournal the 
draft scheme of the committees of the Royal Col- 
1 ges of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Society of 
Apothecaries, in the form in which it was presented to the 
College of Physicians at their Comitia and approved, 
In this form the scheme differs essentially from that of 
last year. This is no longer, as it now appears, a scheme 
for a minimum qualification for English practitioners, 
complete, unified, and preliminary in all respects to higher 
diplomas. 
The following is the draft scheme :— 
1. That one Board of Examiners, in the division of the 
United Kingdom, be appointed by the Royal College of 
Physicians of London, the Royal College of Surgeons of 
England, and the Society of Apothecaries of London, 
for the examination of candidates who desire to practise 
Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery. 
2, That candidates who shall have passed the several 
examinations of the Board be entitled, subject to the bye- 
laws of each institution, to the Licence of the Royal 
College of Physicians of London, the Diploma of Member 
of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the 
Certificate of the Society of Apothecaries of London. 
3. That Examiners be appointed as follows ; viz. : 
In Medicine, by the Royal College of Physicians and the 
Society of Apothecaries. 
In Surgery, by the Royal College of Surgeons. 
In Anatomy and Physiology, by the Royal College of 
Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons. 
In Midwifery, by the Royal College of Physicians, the 
Royal College of Surgeons, and the Society of 
Apothecaries. 
In Materia Medica, Medical Botany and Pharmacy, 
Chemistry, and Forsenic Medicine, by the Royal 
College of Physicians and the Society of Apothe- 
caries. 
4. That the number of Examiners assigned to each 
<ubject be as follows, viz.: Anatomy and Physiology, not 
less than 8; Chemistry, Materia Medica, Medical Botany 
and Pharmacy, not less than 8 ; Medicine, not less than 
10; Surgery, not less than 10; Forensic Medicine, not 
less than 4; Midwifery, not less than 6. 
5. That the appointment of the Examiners in each sub- 
ject be made by each of the three Corporations in the 
following proportion ; viz., Anatomy and Physiology— 
Royal College of Physicians, 3; the Royal College of 
Surgeons, 5. Chemistry, Materia Medica, Medical 
Botany and Pharmacy—the Royal College of Physicians, 
4; the Society of Apothecaries, 5. Surgery—the Royal 
College of Surgeons, 10. Forensic Medicine—the Royal 
College of Physicians, 2; the Society of Apothecaries, 
2. Midwifery—the Royal College of Physicians, 2 ; the 
Royal College of Surgeons, 2; the Society of Apothe- 
caries, 2. 
6. That there be two or more examinations on profes- 
sional subjects, and that the fee payable for the examina- 
tions be thirty guineas, to be paid in two or more 
payments. 
7. That one-half of the fees received for the examinations 
be appropriated to the payment of the examiners and the 
expenses of the examinations. 
8. That the other half of the fees be divided amongst 
the three Corporations, upon the principle of giving to 
each Corporation a sum proportionate to that which each 
has respectively obtained from the grant of licences on 
the average of the last five years. 
g. That the mode of division of the second half of 
the fees be subject to revision at the end of every 
three years. 
NATURE 



ERNST HAECKEL ON THE MECHANICAL 
THEORY OF LIFE AND ON SPONTANEOUS 
GENERATION 
ee his recently published Biological Studies * Pro- 
fessor Haeckel, of Jena, has briefly stated his views on 
the question of Abiogenesis, which is now so largely oc- 
cupying attention in England. He, having done more 
than any other observer to establish the Protoplasm 
theory by his discovery of organisms of the simplest con- 
ceivable structure—not even cellular (¢.e., not even pos- 
sessing a differentiated central nucleus)—his remarks 
on the present condition of the Spontaneous Genera- 
tion question must possess great weight. The philo- 
sophy of Monism, of which he is the exponent, as opposed 
to Dualism, rests on what he calls the Carbon theory and 
the Plastic theory. These theories are thus set forth in 
weighty, but clear sentences :— <a 
1. The forms of organisms and of their organs result 
entirely from their life, and simply from the interaction of 
two physiological functions, Heredity and Adaptation. 
2. Heredity is a part of the reproduction,— Adaptation, 
on the other hand, a part of the maintenance of the organ- 
ism. These two physiological functions depend, as do all 
forms of vital activity, on the character of the physiologi- 
cal organ through which they come into play. 
3. The physiological organs of the organism are either 
simple Plastids (Cytods or Cells), or they are parts of 
Plastids (e.g., Nuclei of Cells, cilia of Protoplasm), or they 
are built up of numerous Plastids (the majority of organs). 
In all these cases the forms and actions of the organs 
are to be traced back to the forms and actions of the in- 
dividual Plastids. 
4. Plastids are either simple Cytods (structureless bits 
of Protoplasm without nuclei) or Cells; but since these 
last have originally arisen from Cytods by a differentia- 
tion of the inner “ Nucleus” and the outer “ Protoplasm,” 
the forms and vital properties of all Plastids can be traced 
back to the simplest Cytods as their starting point. 
5. The simplest Cytods, from which all other Plastids 
(Cytods and Cells) originally have arisen by Heredity and 
Adaptation, consist essentially and absolutely of nothing 
more than a bit of structureless Protoplasm—an albumi- 
noid, nitrogenous Carbon-compound ; all other compo- 
nents of Plastids have been originally formed secondarily 
from Protoplasm (plasma-products). 
6. The simplest independent organisms which we 
know, and which moreover can be conceived, the Monera, 
consist in fact while living of nothing else but the simplest 
Cytod, a structureless bit of Protoplasm : and since they 
exhibit all forms of vital activity (nutrition, reproduction, 
irritability, movement), these vital activities are here 
clearly bound on to structureless Protoplasm. 
7. Protoplasm, or Germinal Matter (Bildungsstoff), also 
called Cell-substance or Primitive Slime (Urschleim), is 
therefore the single material basis (#aterie/le Grundlage) 
to which without exception and absolutely all so-called 
“vital phenomena” are radically bound ; if the latter are 
regarded asthe result of a peculiar Vital Force independent 
of the Protoplasm, then necessarily also must the physical 
and chemical properties of every inorganic natural body 
be regarded as the result of a peculiar force not bound 
up with its substance. ; 
8. The Protoplasm ot all Plastids is, like all other albu- 
minoid or Protein-bodies, composed of four inseparable 
elements, Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen, to 
which often, though not always, a fifth element, namely, 
Sulphur, is added. 
g. The forms and vital properties of Protoplasm are 
conditioned by the peculiar manner in which Carbon has 
* A series of papers published originally in the Yenaische Zeitschrift dur- 
ing the year 1870, the author's Monograph of the Monera—for a translation 
of which see the Quart. Journal of Micr. Sci., 1869 ; also, the January No., 
1871, where M. Haeckel’s views on Coccoliths and Bathybius are noticed 
and illustrated in a plate. 
[March 2, 1871 
ae 
