Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-03
Giving CRYSTAL 81
Interesting Scientific Discoveries by a
German Professor.

Interesting Scientific Discoveries by a
German Professor.
C, EXTRAORDINARY interest is he
- ing shown by German scientific
men in the discoveries of Prof. Otto
lehman, of Karlsruhe. In the
domains of crystallization ana biogen-
ests8 between which the professor finds
strongly marked bonds, going even so
tar as to imply that in capitalization.
under IN e. IS certain conditions may be found
flio origin of spontaneously-g genera ted
lie. Dr., lehman has begun series
@ofs lectures on the subject at the Paris
Corbonne, but he has anticipated these
/ lee lures by printing in the RerlIner
Tageblattan article describing his main
and conclusions.
$50 Fluid crystals are the basis of the
whole new theory. Their discovery DR.
lehman ascribed to his own now
irty-seyen-year-old invention, the
crystal ization microscope, which. he
says. made possible thousands of OBJ
Eservations which otherwise would have
merely technical difficulties met with
in establishing the existence of these
fluid crystals, DR.. Lehman points out
that he had to overcome the sugges-s
tive powers of erroneous ideas" for,
the acknowledgements phenomena vio-l
lated every axiom that he had been
taught.
The first fluid crystals discovered
beyond doubt date back to 1884. being
found in soft soap, and unronlanticl
enough basis for q new scientific the
sory, Soft soap, 1t appears is fluid,
crystalline In structure. Fluid crystals,
of course, in. no way externally re-:
on ,1,t 49,
true crystals; but their crystalline
character is shown by the manner in
which they refract light. Generally
they act In a way OF their own If
when floating In an alcohol solution
they run against any obstacle, such as
an air bubble or an object glass. they
stretch themselves out in the line OF
current as IT. they We're themselves.
part OF. the solution, and sometimes ex-3
tend themselves into long threads
When two such threads come into con-
tact they either unite or form twin
Positions Other fluid crystals run
like water and form regularly gobular
drops. When a fluid crystal comes in
contact with drop of ordinary liquid
1T sometimes spreads over the surface
Of the drop, forming in fact a. crystal
line skin: but where its own mass is
too great for this, it forms a cylinder
q, transition form between drop and
4 1t is these .1nyelin forms" whith show
such remarkable analogfes with low
forms Of organic life. They sometimes
resemble bacteria; they can move back
ward and forward, divide. and unite
with one another
y DIR. Lehman 1T thereto adopts the title
Giving crystals Instead of merely
fluid crystals He asks In what way
do they differ from the lowest organ
islns. a biological definition aifirms
that living being is susceptible to-
stimuli from outside, and can adapt;
Its functions to some extent in the in
terest of preservation. 1t possess
}es thus Soul This soul must be
Invisible and fusihle. Divisibi1ity prob
ably extends down to the so-called bio
the lowest unit Of organic
life; but this in turn consists of in
organic molecules, so that in principle
every atom or electron must have its
soul There is nothing illogical in,
assuming the '.myelin FORMS taken by
fluid crystals to beeprantically Identical
with organisms low in the scale of life.
From this 1t would seem, although DIR.
lehman does not exactly say so, that
any scientific man who can induce soft
soap to take myelin forms Is therein