Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-13
ORIGIN OF LIFE.
New Light on the Old Debate OF
Spontaneous Generation.

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NO question or problem of biology
has been moro determinedIv fought
and contested than that OF The possi-
htllty of life originating today from
matter which is of non-livipr char
aeter. This of course. is the contra
Sefsy between the spontaneous gcner-
alton theory of old and the theory Of
biogenesis. The former held that life
could spring de novo and arise from
inorganic matter. II represented the
most ancient belief in LIES genesis
for the ancients did not doubt that
that which was non-living or what
was once living matter, but dead and
Patfescent, could produce that which
was vital We can go back 10 The
3aHS OF Francesca Redi i'm Florence
ana recall his experiment with tho
development of maggots in n,aat
whereby he showed that these insect
larvae were bred. not out Of the de-
COMPOSING flesh, but out of the eggs
winch the mother flies deposited in
the putrefying material Redrs eV-
pertinent was the beginning OF re-
search which fRllF justified his axiom
othhe FiNum eX vico." He inauenr-
|ated the doctrine of biogenasts
which maintains that in all our cx-
Peflellce We can detect life to snrinfr
only from pre-eXistine vitality. This
Is the doctrine Which Huxley declared
Haa Deen victorious ali along the line
Inc records from Spallanzazni 10
fyndali seemed 10 warrant this dee
iaration. Today. the scientific world
en- masse accepts bioeenesis as the
only way Of vital evolution.
Naturally the question of lies
primitive origin is bound up with that
OF its origins today 1t is the lowest
grades Of LIES kingdom. of course
that form the field of controversy.
such as II is The problem is net
now higher organisms are born. for
their origin Is clear enough. but how
the speeks of protoplasm which con-
stltute the groundlings of VITALITY
and presumably represent the first
living things to be evolved-originat-
ed All recent work in the direction
of substantiating biogenesis or the
reverse lies i'm the field of microscopic
HE, a feature which explains the
many difficulties involved in the re-
search The world at one time was
utterly unsuited to be life's abode. IT
was fiery globe, and only on it's
settling down to form a crust, with air
and water-necessities of life as we
Know it--can we conceive that organ
isms could be developed. Whence
were derived the first lowly things
that people water, air and earth. is a
question only approachable from the
domain of theory. We may elect to
believe that changed chemical condi-
tions favored the formation of pro-
toplasm, and that life was natural
result of the evolution of the only
substance which exhibits vitality. Or
we may suppose some creative act
hestowing life ON matter hitherto in
organic; or. with Lord Kelvin, we
may postulate a moss grown frae-
ment from another world, falling on
the cooling earth. and constituting
the FIRST germs OF vitality which.
once planted. would go ON propagatng
their kind, with evolution in due
time, TO bring about the marvellous
variety of forms and structure that
These are speculations. but now the
controversy shifts its ground We
are concerned to know il life today
can be demonstrated to arise de novo
from non-iving matter life, as be-
fore, being of lowly kind. DIR. Charl-
ton Bastain has returned To the dis
eussion of this topic, and in recent
publication reverts to the statement
of his belief that abogeneSis is still
represented as an actual mode of
origin of low organisms. He is al
most alone in his belief, for, with the
exception of the propounder of Ger
tain views some years ago, which held
that primitive life forms would be de-
Veloped in radioactive solutions. no.
body of any mark in the scientific
world save himself has Ventured to
espouse the cause of spontaneous gem
Grafton. DR.. Bastain makes inorganic
solutions. sterilizes them, seals them
up. awaits developments, and then
finds in his solutions low forms OF
plant life. In his earlier researches.
| il ! mistake not, organisms of lowly
tanimal nature were also discovered
in his fluids. The idea is preached,
believe, that perchance some col
loid state Of matter intermediate be-
tween organic and inorganic substance
es may form the basic material
out of which life is developed. BE
that as it may Or, Bastain adheres
10 his opinion that ii is possible to
demonstrate the evolution of life
from what is living matter, and
a.. sst.,
world Inc stands for the doctrine sthat
life productioa is today everywhere
proceeding in the lower reaches of