CHAPTER VII 



ON ARTIFICIAL CELLS AND ARTIFICIAL LIFE. 



Nature of the bodies produced by radium — von Schron's petro- 

 blasts — Apparent life in young crystals — Bodies observed 

 by Quincke — Poam-ceUs — Cellular protoplasm, how it may 

 have been formed — Sir William Eamsay's helium bubbles 

 — How these may be formed and what their behaviour 

 would be — M. Eaphael Dubois and mineral cultures or 

 vacuohdes produced by barium salts — Experiments with 

 barium and other salts — The peculiar nature of uranium cul- 

 tures — Whether it is radio-activity that produces the effect 

 and in what way — It is not the emitted rays a, j8, or y ; but 

 probably slow-moving rays — Structure of such artificial 

 cells — Their sensitiveness to electrical and chemical stimuli 

 — Their parthenogenesis — Work of Loeb — Mode of sub- 

 division probably similar. 



In discussing the results thus obtained by the action 

 of the salts of radium upon bouillon, many interesting 

 points present themselves ; many questions naturally 

 arise as to the precise nature of these bodies and 

 the actual processes by which they are produced. 

 The interest attached to them has been such that the 

 brief note communicated to Nature, May 25th, 1905, 

 and the few words uttered to a representative of the 

 Daily Chronicle, June 20th, and in a short article on 

 June 29th, 1905, have resounded from the remotest 

 corners of the earth to an extent quite beyond the 

 expectation even of my most apprehensive friends. 



I 



