The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-10-22
ANOTHER NEW ONE ON Us.


ANOTHER NEW ONE ON Us.
when 1t comes to microbes and such
we are all there every TINA. We can
catch 'em fore and aft. larboard and
starboard, comm and soin'. II we should
meet one in the road We should know
him right off. We might not be able to
give his pedigree o. figure out his gen
.ealogical status. but we'd know he was
| a m,crobe.
Heretofore we have known and dealt
with microbes principally as breeders ana
carriers of disease. We have learned
or think we have learned, that every all
ment of humanity. from corns to cynan-
thropy, and from toothache to tuberculo-
sis. is the result or resultant Of some
meddling microbe getting where he has
no business. We can't say that we have
seen the things, but we know of them as
the old negro knew he had religion. He
said he could feel IL in his innerds," ana
by the same token we know there are
microbes ana that they are meddlesome
breed of cattle.
But a modern Investigator and scient-
list has got a new holt as 1t were, on the
| micr ODE theory. Perhaps we shouldn't
call them microbes. as he only alludes
to them as germs" but We suspect they
are members of the same family. or near
| relations. at least. 1t matters not what
| name he gives them, because he claims
to take inanimate, or, at best, the lowest
forms of infusoria, and by certain manip-
! ulation and treatment. build up or create
| a higher order of living things, and so
on up. He has already built up some
kind of thing which he declares pulled
two different ways" from which we in
fer that he has started out to build
mule. However. there is something lack
ing and he says he is now searching for
engines and ion." and We hope he'll
catch them. Perhaps when he does he
will manufacture a critter that will pull
only one way. That will be better.
Now, In one sense Of the word this Prof.
Houghton is not the first to think he has
created animal life. Probably quarter
of century ago, perhaps more, we have
a distinct recollection of the claims of
some European scientist that he had ac-
| tually produced living organisms from
inanimate matter, but he got no further,
and there was always more or less doubt
about the genuineness of his claims. True.
he showed the living atoms or things he
claimed to have created, just as the IA
nous Kelley showed effects from his mo-
tor. but this European breeder never
could aIlay the suspicion that he had
only developed living animalcules which
already existed in the water. In other
words, 1t was charged that he was
grower, not a producer.
We know, too, that a score or more
years ago another European Professor
ass1fed his class that the day was not
far distant when the scientist would be
able to demonstrate in test tube the
mysteries of creation, or words TO that
effect, But so far as we know, neither
of these claimants advanced any further'
so that they are still decidedly behind
this modern experimenter. What ne
aims to do, if we have gotten the hang
| Of his aspirations, is to SO unite or con
| jugate" the lower forms of life as to
produce a higher form and 50 on up. ad
infinitum, or nearly so. He Is not going
IN he satisfied with small cattle that pull
both ways at once, but evidently aspires
to human life itself.
| Right here we apprehend some robust
complications. From the days OF Malthus
there have not been lacking statisticians
to contend that in the natural order OF
things the world was Fastening to over
population and that the time was fast
| approaching when there wouldn't be
standing room on the earth, much less
snace for football and other diversions.
Now, if the ordinary operations OF ma
ture are to overpopulate the earth, what
are we TO expect or apprehend when they
get to manufacturing folks by hand, as
one may say? If one man Is smart
enough to accomplish this. others WILL
for he could hardly have his process pat
ented and kept it from others. The sup
ply would exceed the demand and there
would soon be such surplus as even
Nautilus never dreamed of. The only
hone would be a trust which would keep
i
down the crop.
OF course, there are those who Will say
| that all this is foolish, and possibly irreV-
erent. The Bible tells us that The LORD
God formed man of the dust OF the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life: and man became a
living soul" That is a definite and posi-
| tive statement, but those who believe
fully the doctrine of evolution hold that
man came up gradually from the very
!. lowest form of animal life. These new
doctors only go step further and insist
that they can "conjugate" inanimate
atoms together and form living organ
isms, and if they can begin, why stop?
That is the question and 1t Is a header
If man can create living creature. why
not let that creature be improved by this
new system of conjugation until human
beings will be formed possessing almost
as much sense as some Congressman, for
example 1t is all another great lake or
disquieting theory. and that's all We
knew about it,
Very soon after the Democrats re-
sumed control of public affairs in Ala
bama satisfactory settlement was made