NA TURE 



"May 3, 1906 



seems to us so flimsy that we cannot but wonder at 

 such a paragraph as this : — 



" The structure and composition of such artificial 

 cells is sufficient to enable them to perform the func- 

 tions of organic life, as distinct from such simpler 

 forms of vitality which we at first supposed inorganic 

 matter to possess. Thus they can assimilate, grow, 

 pass into higher types, subdivide, multiply, and 

 finally, having gone through the whole cyclic process, 

 disintegrate and lose their structure in the course of 

 time, being sensitive all the while to external stimu- 

 lation, both electrical and chemical, in various 

 degrees " (p. 133). 



The explanation of the author's apparent oscillation 

 between scientific caution and imaginative hope is to 

 be found in the fact that he has re-defined the ordinary 

 biological terms. Life, for instance, is 



" the specialised mode of motion of a complex system 

 of molecules in a dynamicallv unstable state, so that 

 there is a continuous or continual change, or flux of 

 its substance, between the individual aggregates of 

 molecules and their surroundings " (p. 49). 



" .^n organism has a structure, a nucleus, and an 

 external boundary or cell-wall, and its vitalitv may 

 bo described as being a continuous process of adjust- 

 ment between its internal and its external relations " 

 (p. 102). 



There is metabolism in the phenomena of flames, 

 fluorescence, and phosphorescence — " a physical pro- 

 cess which is not merely analogous to, but essentially 

 .pf the same kind as, even if incomparably simpler 

 than, organic metabolism " (p. 179). It is this re- 

 editing of the biological dictionary that enables the 

 author to write regarding his radiobes : — 



" We can say perhaps that we are witnesses at last 

 to the first beginnings of life in its higher sense; but 

 though apparently a case of abiogenesis, to our mind 

 it seems to be a case of biogenesis, from the view ol 

 matter which we take, of biogenesis indeed carried 

 to its logical extreme." 



We sympathise with the author's vigorous protest 

 against the libel implied in the phrase " dead matter," 

 but we do not think the apartness of vital sequences 

 is diminished by giving a more elastic definition to 

 " life " and " metabolism." As to the bearing of 

 radiobes on the problem of the origin of living 

 creatures upon the earth, we do not think that it 

 amounts to much, not only because Mr. Burke started 

 with proteid material (the natural synthesis of which it 

 is at least difficult to imagine), but also because it seems 

 to us too short and easy a disposal of problems simply 

 to suppose that the coordination and regulation of 

 organic metabolism, the power of effective response, 

 and other insignia of living creatures are secondary 

 acquisitions gradually wrought out in the course of 

 selection. Our business is to try to make the hypo- 

 thesis of primitive abiogenesis more plausible, and 

 we can only do this by condescending to discuss the 

 detailed difficulties in a concrete fashion. 



Mr. Burke's method is different; he elaborates a 

 new theory of vitality which seems to us quite in the 

 air. 



" For anything we know there is no such thing as 

 rcallv dead matter, and there may be in all matter a 



NO. I 905, VOL 74] 



certain amount of energy stored up which would 

 entitle it to be regarded as possessing a certain 

 amount of potential life " (p. 186). 



He postulates original units of life, bio-elements, 

 biogens, or ultimate nuclei, possibly consisting of 

 cyanogen (as suggested by Pfluger's well-known 

 hypothesis), more probably of something with a larger 

 store of energy — " an element possessing many of 

 the chemical properties of carbon and the radio-active 

 properties of the more unstable elements." 



" Life-activity is a phenomenon of matter as much 

 as radio-activity, although really of a more complex 

 kind, and the manner in which the energy is stored 

 up in the ultimate nucleus is probably pretty much the 

 same. Such nuclei may have existed, like the 

 chemical elements themselves, throughout the universe 

 for an almost indefinite time. To account for their 

 formation would be the same as to account for the 

 formation of the elements " (p. 166). 



They may have existed in the nebula which formed 

 the earth or they may have been borne to the earth 

 by meteors, as has been previously suggested. 



" The formation of cellular life as we see it to-day 

 was the result of the subsequent interaction of this 

 radio- or bio-element with organic compounds," and 

 of course there was an elimination of failures when 

 nature was trying her prentice hand at organism- 

 making. One of these failures Mr. Burke may 

 have been on the track of when he made his radiobes. 

 In ordinary cell-life the bio-element persists as the 

 vital spark, the nucleus within the nucleus, the nth 

 or ultimate nucleus, the real source of vital energy. 

 It is also the hereditary substance, and it " may be 

 all of us that survives when we have shuffled off ihis 

 mortal coil." 



The author tells, us much more about biogens than 

 about radiobes, soaring in a region where verification 

 and contradiction are alike impossible. He supports 

 his theory by arguments from analogy, mainly drawn 

 from his studies on the " physical metabolism " seen 

 in the phenomena of fluorescence and phosphores- 

 cence, and he shows that the theory is the natural 

 outcome of his discovery of radiobes, to which the 

 bouillon supplies the soil or constituents, but the 

 radium the seed or vital spark. It is difficult for a 

 biologist to follow the details of this physicist's theory 

 of vitality, e.g. when we read of two kinds of biogens 

 — the " characterless nebulous biogen " which corre- 

 sponds to an ovum, and the concentrated biogen which 

 corresponds to a spermatozoon. But Mr. Burke's 

 general view may be indicated by quoting a few more 

 sentences. 



" Life is as much a phenomenon of matter as 

 electricity is. More clearly, life and matter are merely 

 different phenomena of electricity, matter being 

 merely the fossilised state of biogen, and life of the 

 phenomena which take place in biogen in that stage 

 through which electronic aggregations have to pass 

 before they are converted into the crystalline forms of 

 electrons which we call the chemical atoms of 

 matter " (p. 192). 



If this is what the author calls " more clearly," his 

 standard of lucidity must be very divergent from 

 that of the mean of the biological race. Biogen is 



