Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-28
LIFE EVEN IN STONE
That's the Latest Dictum Of
European Savants.
STUDY OF OR YsTALs
WHAT UP-ro,;DATE MICROSCOPES
AND DARK ROOMS SHOW.
Spontaneous Generation Revealed as a
Fact-On the Verge Of Great
Discoveries.
STUDY OF CIR YsTALs
Special Correspondence - .Rsenina Star.


PARIS. May 10. 1871. y
What does life come from? Can it spring
spontaneously out Of what we call dead
matter? For hundred years Of up-to-date
experiment. with miscroscope in hand
science has answered, mo. there is no such
thing as spontaneous generation"
Now, today, at the present hour, the men
of science of all Europe are becoming con-
WINGED of a strange and wonderful thing
Since they have been able, by means of
powerful microscopes, projections and the
Zeiss dark room. to make engagements up
to 800, 600 times, they have seen something
that astounds and delights them.
Benedict Of Vienna believes 1t. Caniz-
FARO of Rome believes it. Cremona of Ma
pies believes it. So also with certain re-
serves do Di Brazza and Pisenne of Liege
and above all. the discoverer Of the thing,
Prof Won Schron of the Pathological In
stitute of the University of Naples, and his
patrician friend and patron, the Prince
Borghese.
So also believe a hundred learned stu
dents in Paris at the present moment. One
of them, who has just come back from Ma
Piles with a collection of mysterious photo
graphs, has let me copy a few of them and
has told me the story
a hundred years ago the philosopher
of his time to have hit decisive blow at
spontaneous generation" said my inform
ant who is so grave and learned that he
does not wish me to give his name. Doubt
less he is writing a monograph himself.
They showed Redi how worms seemed to
develop by themselves in dead meat as it
putrifies, ana they asked him how he ex-
planned it. Redi simply kept the purify
and no maggots developed. No eggs, no
maggots! And Redis formula was suf-
hcient for his time: 'Omne vivum ex ovo'-
Every living thing comes from an egg, or
GERM, continued my informant
Later on the experiments of Spallan-
Zani, Balbiani, Pasteur and Tyndall went
further and confirmed it for the infusoria
and microbes" spoke up his friend. q may
say that we We're in the laboratory of one
of the greatest chemists of Paris. These men
were his friends and co-workers).
The Final Question.
Then science, desiring to know still
more. pushed Its investiga tons into the re-
production of tissues, and Virchow proved
that every cell comes from some other
CELL said he who had just come back from
Naples. THE formula of Virchow, 'Omnis
cellula ex cellula,'' marked up till yesterday
the jumping-off place of our knowledge
Every cell comes from some previous cell
But If you asked Where did the first cell
come from" science had no answer"
Yet organic matter had to get its first
start somehow l saida
Some said 1t came to the earth in star
dust" said the man from Naples
DO your friends of the Naples Patho-
logical Institute know better?' asked.
DR.. Won Schron. it's director, is getting
close to the great secret" he answered.
He denies the cell from cell of Virchow.
and he gives this formula to replace it:
'Omne vivum ex plasnate, Won Schron
goes beyond the germ and finds as the or
igin OF life a vital force which lies latent
in natter
Claude Bernard long ago said that every
atom of matter had in 1t the potentiality
OF all life and of consciousness ITSELF
spoke up a student. 1T needs only to be
placed in the proper conditions
That was magnificent, but it was only
theory" said our informant. Won Schron
mas seen the thing happen. He has watch
ed life develop out of inorganic matter
chemical salts and distilled WATER
How" we cried.
by means of the most powerful of mi
croscopes and projections in the Zeiss dark
room that make enlargements up to 500 600
times"
What are these living things he has
seen develop spontaneously? I
asked. hesitating over the word spontane-
Gus.
Spontaneous Generation.
"Oh that is the right word" answered the
man from Naples, cit is spontaneous gem
Grafton. We might as we'll locke 1t In the
face. What has he seen come into life
from non-life? Why, living individual
things. Young crystals!'
But crystals are stones, or else they
compose metals"
Then stones and metals are alive"' he
replied calmly. Il had better tell you
about Won Schron. He is the director of
the Pathological Institute of the University
of Naples and the greatest specialist in the
world on crystals. According to him. there
is no such thing as inorganic matter in ma
ture, and everything that constitutes the
world has either lived or else will live. The
young crystal is living individual. he
says; but old crystals are fossils, thew are
dead.
"At the beginning Of his studies. in 1854.
Won Schron considered the crystal as an
inert body, 0beyng only chemical and phys-
ical laws; but after he had made - 600
cro-photographs, he saw light These
photographs were a revelation for
him. Now he knows-and we know with
him-that every crystal has had Its eyo-
luton like a plant animal, yes, and Its
biology and pathology, even to sickness and
DEATH
Tell us how he got at It,"
'In 1888, at the same time Koch was
working on his now classic experiments
Won Schron was hunting the secret of con-
sumption. Microbes formed a great part
of his study; and 1t was in these studies
that he came on the life of the crystal.
Among the products of secretion and excre-
ton OF such bacteria there are certain
kinds, very abundant, formed of albumen-
oids which crystalize. Now, Won Schron
was astonished to find these young CRYSTALS
presenting all the characteristics OF a liv-
Ing being. And, q moreover, they were in
continual evolution"
They were organic crystals" 1 said.
Eyes, yes,' replied the man from Naples
impatiently 1.-THE verification of this mar
vel in inorganic crystals minerals, igne-
GUS rocks) was at once made. It was con-
elusive"
''But I don't understand it at ALL" said
some one.
The Original Matter.
do you know what plasme is? Up till
now 'plasme'' has been the raw matter
that constitutes living things, their cells,
fibers, vessels. nerves.t1etc, which united
make organs and tissues. Now, the crystal
has no organs, unless we consider Its cells
such; but 1t represents. up to the sum-
init of its development, tissue in continual
evolution"
rs it composed of plasme?"
I'VE need new word to distinguish it
petroplasme. the 'plasrne' of living stones,
as we have phitoplasme, the raw matter of
vegetables, zooplasme, of animals and an
throplasme, of men. Won Schron sllbdiv;des
this raw matter of living stones into lalo-
plasme Of 1t be uniformly, granuloplasme
(if 1t be GRANULAR and filoplasme fff II be