648 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. VoL.XXr. No; 539. 



Professor E. B. . 'Wilson, the retiring- 

 president of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences, has recently addressed that body 

 upon 'The Problem of Development.' The 

 paper reached me just three days ago. It 

 contains most interesting information on 

 the question of vitalism and mechanism. 

 "In so far as development may be con- 

 ceived as the outcome of an original ma- 

 terial configuration in the nucleus, and a 

 seconcj^ry configuration in the protoplasm, 

 it may be conceived as a mechanical proc- 

 ess." 



This leaves unsolved, however, certain 

 fundamental elements of the problem, for 

 example, 'the manner and order in which 

 the protoplasmic stuffs are formed and as- 

 sume their characteristic configuration,' or 

 'how the wonderful phenomena of the re- 

 generation of lost parts in the organism 

 can be explained.' Advances have been 

 made in the solution of the problem on the 

 mechanical basis, hence Dr. Wilson asks, 

 'by what right does the vitalist demand 

 that we shall adopt his hypothesis for the 

 portions still unsolved?' 



I am fully aware that sufficient experi- 

 mental data have not been obtained to re- 

 duce the complicated phenomena to our 

 familiar physico-chemical terms. But as 

 a result of his work on the amphioxus and 

 the dentalium, Professor Wilson remarks, 

 ■'It is possible, probable, that living bodies 

 may be the arena of specific energies that 

 exist nowhere else in nature. ' 



Our survey of the development of nat- 

 ural philosophy has forced upon us one 

 fact, which we can not avoid. It is that 

 man's knowledge of nature has been a 

 growth, an evolution. Just as Francis 

 Bacon thought, truth in science can only 

 be obtained by progressive generalizations. 

 This is true whether we accept the teach- 

 ing of Darwin or the opposing atavism of 

 de Vries. The means whereby we have 

 gained that extended knowledge are too 



iuuueroits even for enumeration here. I 

 doubt not the ancient Greek philosophers 

 would have had some merriment in their 

 pity for him who might have suggested the 

 existence of such a substance as the torch 

 of Satan (phosphorus), which was exhib- 

 ited at the continental courts of Europe. 



I am almost overcome with the thought 

 of what I may see, when I consider the 

 immensity of the panorama presented to 

 my venerable predecessors, who happily 

 survive this day. Their half century of 

 greater experience than mine brought them 

 to the light of radium, the penetrating en- 

 ergy of Rontgen, and the phenomena of 

 parthenogenesis. Nations whisper their 

 wonders thousands of miles through the 

 pulsations of energy, which gives life. 



Acceptance of this philosophy does not 

 preclude man's reaching a higher state of 

 perfection ; nor does it obviate man, as he 

 is, being the highest type this world may 

 ever know. It will depend entirely upon 

 the factors in the systems. When equilib- 

 rium of energy has come about, none will 

 be available and life, all life, inorganic as 

 well as organic, will cease. Our world will 

 have come to an end. The degradation 

 will be as imperceptible as the growth. 

 That which is and was returns to that 

 which has been forever— the quiescent 

 ocean of energy in equilibrium, the source 

 and recipient of all life, which we are 

 pleased to name as God. Creation's cho- 

 rus is stopped, 'hid in death's dateless 

 night. ' 



"Gone— all gone— like the light on the 

 clouds at the close of day. ' ' 



Charles Baskerville. 

 College of the City of New Yokk. 



INTERPRETATION OF A WATER 

 EXAMINATION. 



Interpretation of a water examination 

 may be considered from two quite different 

 points of view. It may mean the private 



