New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-03
CREATING LIFE.

When so absurd an announcement is made as
that which emanated few days ago from An
derson, Ind, perhaps it ought not to be digni-
fed by any notice The pretence of Mr.. Little
field that he had developed living germs out of
a mixture of common salt, water, alcohol ana
ammonia shows him 10 be either an ignoramus
or an aspirant to fame in the realm of fiction,
or both. The close resemblance between his
literary style and that Of the quack doctor is
suggestive, TO say the least. Volatile mag
netism," the evolution of life out Of crystals,
the trobites and other features Of the nara
tive may we'll impose on the ignorant and
creduous, but they are unintelligible to the
initiated. Such talk is what is commonly
known as rot" Since there is a chance that
a few people may be misled by the story, how
ever, a little comment may not be out Of place
Even if Mr. Littlefeld's alleged experiments
were imbued with honest purpose they would
be comparable to-day only to a child's mud-pie
making For half a century or more 1t has
been known that the essential material of all
plants and animals. the physical basis Of life"
is d highly complex chemical compound, to
which the name protoplasm has been given
While life cannot exist without it, so far as
naturalists have been able to discover, the
manufacture of protoplasm would not neces-
sarily mean mbung the product with life. 1t
does not appear, though. that Mr.. Lttlefield
has succeeded in making protoplasm, to begin
with; was it to be imagined that he could
do so. Chemists realize with sorrow that, while
they can take a substance apart and find what
it is made Of they cannot often make those
same ingredients unite again Analysis and
syGthesis are not equally feasible The union
of the elements that compose protoplasm has
never been artfcially effected. 1t is brought
about only by already living bodies.
counter in an attempt to produce living Great
ure is that, in the opinion Of all reputable mod
ern biologists. life resides in cells. The cell
is built up out of protoplasm but the micro
scope shows that it is an deliberately organized
machine, An honest experimenter, therefore,
must not only do what no chemist has yet
done, but he must also perform task in archi-
lecture and engineering. He must first pro-
duce his raw material. and then construct, a
cell Herewith. Virchow laid down the doctrine
in 1858 that no cell could be developed except
from another one, aud. with triflng modifca-
TONS all naturalists entertain that view to-day,
When a man talks as Mr.. Littleteld is report
ed to have done. he simultaneously offends
Theology and defies Science.
The impossibility of creating life from dead
matter was conclusively demonstrated long be-
fore VirChOw's day. The great German pathol-
ogist confirmed the idea, and carried it one
stage further than his predecessors. His doe
trine applies to the cell with which vitality is
ineXtriCably associated. Redi. a Florentine
philosopher. fully two and half centuries ago
asserted the broad principle that there could
| be no life without previous life 4 belief in
Spontaneous generation" had resulted from
noticing that living organisms would appear in
the flesh of dead animals under some circum-
stances. The Italian showed that if the meat
was protected from flies by gauze the observed
phenomena would not occur. 1t was only when
the latter insects had chance to lay eggs on
or in the flesh that the particular forms of life
referred to would develop. Other battles were
dred years, and even Button was arrayed
! the wrong side Of the question. The final vic
| tory was won by Spallanzani. BY the micro
/ scope very much smaller creatures had been
! detected than were known in Redi's day. Sew
! eral observers had found that If dead grass
kill all germs, thousands OF infusOria would de-
! velop in the fluid. SpallaIzani proved that the
| parental and injecting organisms We're borne to
/ the water by the outside air. If these were ex-
! Guided. by hermetically sealing the vessel con-
| tanning grass and water after the first boiling
! there would be no offspring.
! Any one who fances that life can be created
| from inanimate matter by human skill should
| read history.