The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-29
v

In chapter on Inc Or1Rln OF llle, our
author expounds the older and later
hypothesis Of arohigony. or spontaneous
generation. We still read sometimes that
the -unscientifc' belief in abiogenesis, or
archigOny, has been definitely refuted by
Pasteur's experiments and that the ques-
ton of the origin Of life has thus become
an insoluble enigma. According to Prof.
Haeckel there is an astonishing super
fciality and lack Of discernment in such an
assertion It was the myth Of saprobiosis
(the birth Of living fHS IN dead or putrid
organic matter), and not the theory Of
archigony, which was refuted by Pasteur
when he showed convincingly that new
organisms never appear in infusions Of
organic substances when these are suf-
ficiently boiled and when the atmosphere
which reaches Thorn has been chemically
purified. Those experiments did not oven
touch the important and pressing question
which alone interests us: How did the
earliest organic inhabitants OF our earth,
the primitive organisms. arise from in
organic compounds?" Our author holds.
and has held for some forty years. that we
may confidently assume that in the period
when arohigony took plaoe-the time when
surface OF the earth at tho beginning Of
the Laurenuan Age--the conditions OF exist
enoe we're totally different from what they
are now. He admits. however that as
vet we are very far from having a clear
idea Of what they we're or from being able
TO reproduce them artifcially. We are
Just as far from having a thorough chemical
acquaintance with the albuminous com
pounds 10 which plasm belongs. We can
only assume that the plasma m leoule Is
extremely large and made up Of more than
a thousand atoms and that the arrange
ment and connection Of the atoms In the
molecule are very complicated and I'M
stable. OF the real features OF the intricate
structure, however, we have as vet no
conception. As long as we are ignorant
OF this complex moecule structure of
albumin it ia useless to attempt to produce
1t artihcially.' Is It not absurd then. asks
our author. because the miscarriage OF the
attempt TO produce the pasm artihcially
under such disqualifying circumstances,
TO cry out Spontaneous generation is
impossiblo9T
Hacckels theory Of abiogenesis, or ar
chigony. advanced in 1906. simply assumed
that the chemical process Of plasmodomlsm,
or carbon assimilation, which we find re-
peated every second in every plant cell
exposed to the sunlight. and which has
become an Inherited habit OF the green
plant cell, developed OF itself at the begin
ming Of organic life; in other words is n
ca,alytic process Tor one analogous 10
catalysis), the physical and chemical con-
ditions Of which were present in the status
Of the earrh's surface at that time. Tho
well known botanist Carl Nasgei adopted
Haeckol's hypothesis in 1884, and forrnu-
lated the following proposition: TThe der
ivation OF the organic from the inorganic
is in the first place, not a question OF ex-
perience and experiment. but fact de-
duced from the law Of the ccnstGnoy Of
matter and force. II all things in tho
material world are casually related. II all
phenomena proceed on natural principles,
organisms. which are formed Of and decay
into the same matter, must have been
derived originally from inorganic com