The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21


from mis- presidential chair the doctrine
omns vtvum er vivo.
As a result OF the experiments ~recounted
In the present volume, the author main
tains that IL the doctrine p~ropounded by
Pasteur and Huxley could be said to he
an impartial verdict In 1870. which even
then IL was not. a totally different verdict
will have to be given to-day. Since the
year 1870 DIR. Bastian has on variou oc-
~casions. and on various evidence. o
tended that the first and third Of Pasteur's
inductions wero net good. and that the
second corollary was neither true nor
~oetensibly warranted. Additional and final
proof OF these positions has. he ventures
TO assert. been supplied in the book be-
fore US. He claims. therefore. TO have
shown that the grounds on which NJ. Pasteur
and thes scientific world In general. follow
Ing the French investigator. had accepted
the germ theory Of fermentation and
rejected tho doctrine OF spontaneous
generation were altogether insufficient
and In great part er~roneous-as a wider
experience with other materials and 40
curate experiments on the thermal death
point Of bacteria and their spores as
we'll as with new experimental conditions.
have shown.
What. then. ia our authors ultimate
oonclusion' He insists that II all the
forms Of life that have ever existed on
the surface of the earth have been derived
from tho primordial forms which took
origin by natural synthetic processes,
occurring only In an intellectually remote
past. no adequate and consistent explana-
tiNp -a,,ll ha f~rsh,1Vot,- - tha ,ol1,,htaI
existence at the present day Of teeming
multitudes of such lower organisms as
are described and discussed in this hook.
For. II the assumed gradual development
OF higher forms Of life during past geologic
ages has been due largely TO the intrinsic
mutability OF living matter. as the evoln-
ton hypothesis assumes. would 1t not be
a qualification Of that hypothesis to suppose
that u primordisl forms as bacteria.
~torule. monads. ampbe and ciliated in
fusoria should have remained practically
unchanged and In these low grades for
untold millions Of years. Yet those evolu-
tionists whose views are at present most
widely accepted would have us believe
that ages and ages before the advent Of
man or his immediate predecessors on the
earth. the ancestry Of the bacterium. the
ampba. the monad. the mould or any OF
h low infusorial animalcule, now to be
seen in their respective habitats. nae been
tenants Of our globe. DR.. Bastian sub-
mits that the mere suggestion seems to
carry absurdity OF its face. "If this were
really 80. then we could only expect that such
forms would be the very types Of con-
servatism and stability; whereas. as a
matter of fact. all such organisms are rather
the best types Of change and ~mutability."
Our author adds: 1T ia impossible TO
argue that they nave preserved their prim-
tive forms by reason Of their existence in
~unchanging environments. The very re-
verse Of this must have been the fact. and
even now such organisms are to be met with
abundantly over the face Of the earth and
in the most diverse situations. In accord
ance. however. with the views advanced
IN this work the present day existence of
these organisms may be fully ex Explained
and is just what might be expected-if
they are ever seething up anew by archie
biosis and heterogeneous; IL. in other words.
organic life il in our own time being evolved
continually from inorganic matter.
The bearing Of DR.. Bastian's conclusions
on the theory of the origin. treatment and
cure Of contagious diseases should be OBJ
vious. Those who accept it will find it
impossible to hold that contagious diseases
can be stamped out effectively by
mere prevention Of ~contagion. Believing,
as all must do. in the de moro origin of the
germs Of contagious diseases in the past.
DR.. Bastian fails to see why such germs may
not also be engendered in the present, and
he has been deeply impressed by the weight
of evidence tending 10 show that several
Of them at least do so arise from time TO
time. 1t does not suffice to avert c~ontagion.
but it is needful also to prosecute the most
diligent search into the conditions OF origin
Of all contagious maladies. The more con-
tagious the disease the more important
does the quest become. NJ. W. II.