VOL. LV.— No. 3,072. 



SATUEDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1912. 



THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



NOTE OF THE WEEK. P^^, ^^e prcxluftion of such germs or tionary factor, i\m] how can \\v impute 



4" 



Spontaneous Generation 



primary forms of life, must result, if it suoli ini (Midowmont to moroly <-lii'inir;i 1 ;»<•- 

 means anything at all, in an evolutioij tion ? \V<« know, as ro^anls plauis. Iliat, 

 which would eventually 'bring their progeny althougli they ar*' only nrdvidod \\ n\i a 



Professor Schafer's opening address to within the realm of visihility, as evolution few eUMnents lor tlioir niiirituni 



the British Association must, we imagine, clearly shows lus must h ave heen tlie case gi'owtli. tlu^y ar<' <'apai)l(' of assix i;i i ini^ aii<l 



have struck many of his audience, and even- in the primary germs or cells which started ret-omliiniii^ lln-sc ini<> such ;\u iiiti]i]t\- of 



lually many of his scientific readers, as re- the life cycle of the W'orld as we are now different ^uh-Kmr, ih;it !ncnd)crs of'one 



presenting a great retrograde step in evo- 

 lutionary teaching. In the last centuiy 

 'he doctrine of spontaneous 

 iieration, i.e., the develop- 

 ment of life from inorganic 

 material without a previous egg 

 orgernij was practically demol- 

 ished by innTimerable experi- 

 ments undertaken by Professor 

 Tiiulall and other eminent 

 scientists, Avho conclusively 

 jiroved that, how^ever fitted for 

 nutrition a material might be, 

 unless access were given to it, 

 after thorough sterilisation, 

 of living germs^ such material 



enabled to study it in the shape of fossils 

 and existing organisms, simple and r-om- 



an<l till' s;nn«' m'niis may vicl<l pnuliicts of 

 tln^ inn.st <^|)jK)^it (• <-lia r-ictiT. hodus or 



banes, as tli< 



be. 



1 bis 



developed no organisms. 



It 



was simultaneously proved 

 also that the air we breathe 

 wab 60 laden with germs that 

 the minutest quantity of it, 

 if admitted to the material, 

 '^as capable of conveying 



of life, which then pro- 

 ;itt-d by the opportunity, and 

 multiplied exceedingly. In 

 the old days, wdien the theory 

 of creation involved the idea 



of th 



e creation of even 



highly organised beings, 



iding 



even 



in- 



man himself, 



-om mere clay, spontaneous 

 generation was naturally 

 widely accepted, and the ap- 

 pearance of 



i"g flesh 

 other 



grubvs 



in decay- 



and innumerable 



tuiexplained 

 »ients of life 



develop- 



iffiputed 

 formation 



to a 

 of 



direct 



were naturally 

 simple trans- 

 the nutriment 



an incoiH'tMvably 

 clia fact tT. <les])it^ 



<asc mav 

 We also know t bat a 

 work is doin^ bv means of cells. 



■ 



which i*cs('ar<li ]i;is sliown 



to 1 > e o f 

 complex 



th(M'r apijaicni siin[ilicity. 



Proiess;)r Scbiiicr. Ih)\\ fr, 



unless wv sa<llv mix oniiue Lis 



words, considet's tliat if our 

 chemist s could absiilu telv <|et er- 



* 



min(^ thi^ c(in>titni'nts nl tlie 

 cell formation, tbev (■oid<l svn- 

 thetically construct a living 

 eel I , i.e., induce spont a neons 



generation. 



Here however, 



crea- 



into organisms fitted 



t« devour it. Many scientific 



ervers, however, declined to accept this plex. Snch study forces us to conclude 

 l,^*^^' by experiment demonstrated in that, iliowever the primary cell was en- 

 /• cases that if the all-essential egg or 

 T'^' already derived from a living organ- 

 ■^m, were excluded, no life appeared, and 

 jnine nvum ex vivi " became the estab- 

 ^^hed motto. Despite all this, however, we 

 ■ « now informed that, in all probabilitv, 

 lif, ^-""'"o^opic development of primaiv 



theh^T^^' invisible even with 



be Po^-ers of the microscope, mav 



' . en under the present conditions of the 



inota. J '''''^ themselves directly from 

 ^^*'^^'g-nic material. ^ 



spontaneous generation pure and sim- 



'^orld , 



the all-important point is over- 

 l<»(dve<l, viz.. that the cell is 

 not merely a sac containing a 

 glutinous liquid, which the 

 cln'mist might, and indeed 

 can, imitate vorv closelv, but 

 there is also the won<h'rfnllv 



endowed nucleus, the 

 tive " centre, in whicli, thouglt 

 but a microscopic bundle of 

 fibres, lies all the potencies of 

 the race it sprang trom, plus^ 

 probably, future ones. What 

 sort of nucleus woukl the 

 (hemical elenu^nts <<)ntrive ? 

 There are no potencies to in- 

 herit, and therefore none to 

 transmit when the chemical 

 molecules start on the difficult 

 and non-chemical cotirse of re- 

 production by means of a 

 dividing wall, itself a mystery 

 of cell formation, wdiich can 

 onlv be formed bv the direc- 

 tive impulse of the ''nucleus" itself. We 

 are indeed confronted in this connection 

 with a metapliysical difficulty. Accepting 

 the nebular hypothesis, that our earth was 



^ ~. which 



cooled down and formed a crust divided 

 by oceans on or in which life then appeared, 

 the materialist argues that snch life must 

 have had a s[)<)ntaneous commencement as 

 a practical infinity of organic adaptations a subtle combination of inorganic matter 

 and endowed with a faculty of progression in which a vital spark was engendered 

 on wider and wider lines. A primary cell, under the conditions then existent. This> 



of course, is 'beyond proof, as indeed, is 



Gn 4X0 



ME. EOBEET MOETON. 



in that, ihow 



gendered, it must have had within it the 

 power of not merely reproducing its own 

 primary form, but of changing that form 

 in response to its environment, and thus 

 become more and more complex to fit njore 

 complex conditions until, as a result, 



originally a glowing mass, 



see 



filled 



produced 



A. theory which is that bination of nutritious elements, if not so any other theory regarding the origin of 



endowed would be useless as an evolu- life. The non-materialist argues, on the 



