LIFE AND MECHANISM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1583, 29 October 1912, Page 6

LIFE AND MECHANISM.

Sir,—l am inclined to agree with Professor Laby's side of the argument, from other reasons than he has stated—little as' wo know as yet of tho nature of life. But every decade our knowledge increases and soon the mystery of the juggling boi of "oxygen, h3-drogen, nitrogen, and carbon acting in combination" will be unfolded to us. I happen to have been studying ltitely the phenomena of aphis production, more especially tho black aphis, and it appears to me to be purely mechanical. At 8.50 one morninij lately I watched the birth ,of the little pink baby aphis. Slowly it: was extruded from its mother's beautiful shiny black body, and in ten minutes it was born, but sHll held by tho mother for another ten minutes in order to allow the tiny little logs to unfold themselves, dry, and foil slowly on to the peach leaf. In another five minutes the little pink body grew a deeper red, and the young aphis was "on its own" in -this vale of tears of this world our ours. In two hours, tho red colour deepened to brown, which would slowly deepen to the shiny black, as familiarly seen, and terrible, to any tree (peach, plum, or nectarine) attacked. Tho same process of nature is followed in the brown or gTcen roso aphis, or tho woolly aphis of our apple trees. Now the ratio of increase (if unchecked by man) of the aphidee family, is nino thousand millions from one, female aphis in tho one season. (The male aphis, practically, is never born, nil being femnles. I use the word "practically" in tho sense of being of any use as an ordinary living parent). So in order to protect my trees my duty is to • spray them every five days with kerosene emulsion, in quassia chips solution, which I do, and so keep down this excessive increase. Now, sir, will any of your readers contend that this increase of tho nino thousand millions from tho one female in the one season is anything but a mechnnical operation of tho life force? These little mites are extruded, and,in threo or four days they themselves aro ready to extrude more aphides, like sausages from any of our sausage machines. I have to sweep them oft by tho millionveTCry season. Where does the doctrine of\ a special Providence come in? (I say that the doctrine- of a special Providence went down if it had not gone down before with the Titanic). Darwin showed that there was no "specinl creation," but everything was slowly evolved from protoplasm or tho four chief primal gases — oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, nnd carbon. Scliaofer shows that life is undoubtedly physico—chemical, and wo soon shall be able to produce it ourselves mechanically from what is called inorganic matter, ergo, there is no specinl Providence, which there surely cannot be in, say, the aphides family, or I should not be so wantonly cruel fn sweeping them off. I don't liko the butcher business of killing tho.ii at all, as tho little aphis clings to life, and desires to ovoid danger, just OS I do myself; or tho sliapeless amoeba, from which we all spring. True, we are. in the dark yet as to the whole working of Iho "juggling box," but our automatic knitting macliines at* much on a par with aphis production, at any rate. I am not sure, indeed, whether the marvellous working of one of our modern printing presses is also not up to tho ephis production standard. Then tho pin macliines (which make and card tho pins), nv tho automatic cartridge-making machines, or the screw machines, or the matchbox macliines (which turn out the finished nrtirlo). or (ho combined linrvcsters. thresher?, and baggers. 'All these things nrn but ftvps on the way to the ultimate ./solution °* tk* oroblem Sohaeier I>m ett

lwfore us. True, thoy havo not the "life principle" as yet, but a reaper and binder is very life-like in its working. I rememl>er well how fascinated Sir Arthur Gord:n (ono of our Governors) was, watching a leaner iind binder I had then set to work. Sir Arthur wae e. Special Provid«aco man to his finger-tips, and my ninohine was a wire-bindor only. With nil respoct I ask which was the greater of tho Wo machinee, fho man or tho binder—greater, I mean, in tho servico to humanity?—l am, etc., C.V.F. Ootob*r 19, 1912.