September 29, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



4U5 



able that the genesis of the single cell, 

 whether passing into crystalline fixity or or- 

 ganizing into higher forms of life, points to 

 the same place of origin — the salt sea — where 

 the microscopic entity at the very outset is 

 s^irronnded by large quantities of organic 

 nitrates. Hence, the power of absorbing 

 nitrogen would constitute the first and mutual 

 condition for any order of cellular existence, 

 organic or crystalline. And, as the evolution 

 of the organic structure proceeds through and 

 by the inorganic, it follows that the native 

 powers of the mineral cell — of which nitrog- 

 enous absorption constitutes one — are all 

 transmitted to the subsequent cell structures 

 of vegetable and animal life. 



On the basis of the experiments and investi- 

 gations referred to in this article, there seems 

 to be nothing either unrea,sonable or unscien- 

 tific in the theory that the human being, un- 

 der certain conditions, possesses the power of 

 assimilating nitrogenous compounds in his 

 vital economy without the assistance of an 

 intervening vegetable kingdom. 



Axel Emil Gibson. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



QUOTATIONS. 



MR. J. B. BURKE's experiments. 



Mr. Burke made use of solid radium bro- 

 xnide in fine powder. He sprinkled a few 

 minute grains on a gelatine broth medium, 

 possibly somewhat soft, so that the granules 

 would sink slowly below the surface. Once 

 there they would dissolve in and decompose 

 the water, liberating oxygen and hydrogen, 

 together with emanations, which would remain 

 mixed with these gases. The gases would 

 form minute bubbles, probably of microscopic 

 dimensions, and the coagulating action of the 

 emanation on the. albumen of the liquor would 

 surround each with a skin, so that the product 

 would appear like a cell ; its contents, however, 

 would be gas, or, rather, a mixture of the gases 

 oxygen and hydrogen. The emanation, en- 

 closed in such a sack, would still decompose 

 . water, for enough would difi^use through the 

 walls of the sack, which, moreover, would 

 naturally be moist. The accumulation of 

 more gas would almost certainly burst the 



walls of the cell, and almost equally certainly 

 in one or two places. Through the cracks 

 more gas would issue, carrying with it the 

 emanation, and with it the property of coagu- 

 lating the Avails of a fresh cell. The result of 

 the original bubble would resemble a yeast 

 cell, and the second cell a bud, or perhaps 

 more than one, if the original cell happened 

 to burst. This process would necessarily be 

 repeated as long as the radium continued to 

 evolve emanation, which would be for the best 

 part of a thousand years. The 'life,' there- 

 fore, would be a long one, and the ' budding ' 

 would impress itself on an observer as equally 

 continuous with that of a living organism. 



I am surprised to learn from Mr. Burke's 

 first letter that the ' organisms ' appear to 

 dissolve in water. The emanation does not 

 coagulate or apparently affect gelatine, for I 

 have tried and found that it does not ; indeed, 

 it was not to be expected. Is it possible that 

 the gelatine is pushed away to form the cell- 

 wall, leaving the albumen as a partial content 

 of the cell, along with gas ? The latter would, 

 doubtless, diffuse through the cell-wall of 

 coagulated albumen and dissolve in and mix 

 up with the water. On placing the apparent 

 ' organism ' in water the gelatine, too, would 

 be extracted, and the cell would seem to dis- 

 appear, the wall being excessively thin. It 

 would be interesting to learn if Mr. Burke has 

 attempted to stain his ' organisms ' with the 

 usual dyes used by microscopists. It is pos- 

 sible that the coagulated albumen would take 

 the stain better than the uncoagulated matter 

 and that the structure would thus be revealed. 



As I said before, I have no desire to dog- 

 matize. The supposition that the pouring of 

 energy in some form into matter similar to 

 that of which living organisms are made, and 

 which serves as sufficient food for actual living 

 organisms, might conceivably result in the 

 production of life, is a very attractive one. 

 But one is bound to sceptical, and the 

 explanation which I have ventured to suggest 

 appears to me to be sufficient to meet the case. 

 But no one will rejoice more than I if it 

 should ultimately prove to be inadequate. — 

 Sir William Ramsay in The Independent. 



