New-York tribune., 1907-06-16
EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY or LIFE

science gained insight more rapidly than now.
KR2Wedge has begun TO close in on tho last strong
Here, then, reduced 20 lowest terms Is one Of
no substance known TO chemistry goes to make up
any plant or animal which substance is not found
the essential difference betveen mass Of air
bubbles in salt water and living creature
Early scientific opinion equally with common
opinion Of to-day, had 4 that a mysterious vital
taiity' 70 dead matter and It becomes alive Take
II away, and all that remains promptly returns TO
srhis is not, however, current ecientac opinion
ost OF & me SOY s9qha Sclenlhc %oLK oi me ple@heLI SEM
as as me Iohd9nena 81 bass Of their % Work tnat dhsle
tween rock and the Iichen that grows upon It is
the difference between lump Of brass and n
watch--one is n mass of unorganized matter, the
other is an elaborate machine Not essential
the difference between the living thing and the
justified by the actual results obtained by persons
who have held It. Whether animals and plants are
merely complicated machines not. biologists Of
the new experimental school-by treating them as
them Readers Of the daily papers have not vet
forgotten how Professor Loeb reared sea urchn
larve quite as well formed and hardy az Natures 3
own. using n pinch OF common salt in place OF the
male parent Since then the TICK has 9een a"he
by various other devices with the eggs OF StdrnSi
several different worms. many different sorts
those Of the amprey eel and the frog. TheoretI-
cally il should be possible 10 do the Same with any
easy 10 obtain and sufficiently resistant to on
dure rough handling.
free with the mysteries of life Give him a few
common chemicals and he will set you an ordinary
heart itself reverse its beat or, giving over its
regular pulsatiOns, assume the properties OF other
He will take half a dozen starfish eggs. which II
left themselves. would have become as many
separate beings and he will fuse them together
into one gigantic egg from winch shali +rlS" "A
single monstrous creature or, Il you choose, he
will cause of these same eggs to separate into
eight. and from each bring forth a dwarf startish
Of Appropriate size ne VIII ,aKs a IIous'ind hGI ma MAJ
eggs and cause every one 10 ueVeiop Hlo = lArEd
with its stomach outside instead of inside It's
double tailed creatures OF all sorts max. YOU ann
mails with neither body nor tail but with only two
take a full grown planarlan worm and make 1t
change into two perfectly shaped young worms
each something less than half size If one lancy
happens 10 run that way, thefe are 70 ne Ldq 70
order crabs with the large claw on either the right
side the left or with antenntf IN place OF eyes,
fiat fish with the color pattern on Lle un,ItI Siues
light butterflies dark from the same pIood OF
caterpillars not to mention strange hybrid beings
such the waters never brought IoTth--htiI sea
urchin, half starfish-athough these animals are
related not more nearly than u turtle and a duck
Lately, by making the sea water alkaline the sea
urchin has been crossed with the plantlike lily
In fact, about the only limit 10 the power o. the
modern experimenter in this field is the amount OF
cutting and doping that creature VIII stand
without giving up the ghost Barring this crcuih-
e, me leS aIIa1 faciIitv Bring to pro-
fessor Castle. at Harvard. n pair CT guinea pigs
one let ne sav black rough coated. and snort
haired: the other q white smooth haired Angora-
tell him that you want any one OF the elsit COM
binations of these six qualitiesIsmooth BLACK An
rough hair and the rest-and in ieW months ne
WI turn you our ah&gInimg & fterward ,na ncc
show the least sign of its mixed origin
All this comes from assuming that the animal is
machine. To be sure, we DO not yer Understand
very much about how the machine Is put together
how it works. We do. nevertheless. succeed
II was never Intended TO go. and we keep it going
in strange paths until something breaks and 'hs