The Origin of Life.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3119, 15 February 1879, Page 1

The Origin of Life.

The most important controversy, which has taken place for some time within the limits of science is that which has occurred between the upholders of the gerin-fcheory and the advocates^of spontaneous getteftttion as to the " beginnings of life/ It is but seldom, indeed, that any .controversy ot importance takes place between scien-' tide men ou any strictly bcientific question.l There is plenty of controversy do' the! outskirts of scientific thought' between the metaphysicians on one side, and tthe theologians on the other. But.weU within their own domain scientific men usually test disputed points by methods which leave but little scope for controversy. They have to deal at last merely with matters of fact, and these must depend On' the evidence addu-ible. If there,,is -ji disputed or doubtful point this should be. made tbe subject of, a definite cruciall experiment, which in its issue gives'a decisive answer to the disputed question. It is by this issue at last that the cdntroversy we refer to -ha* been determined, but there was a longer than usual time, in' clearing the'ground for the final test, ami even in accepting the verdict after it was obtained. 'As, however, it has now beep' I given with, very telling force, and as it finally disposes pf a'very importaot question, we may devote a little space to a brief consideration of the question and its I answer. It is some five or six years since Dr Bastian in his Beginnings of Life made, certain statements regarding his obtaining life iit some of its lowest forms from inanimate and even from inorganic matter

which took the •di*rit*c 1 world toiiMiwhat : by Bnr^6T :::rui?l|^Mft|^ n;ultnn|P' boiled ceriiin ihimiit |tfd 3?#i«Sw« in* > fusions for ß tiffloifenl;Uta^toeiirjpat«' all vHal.ty ther conUined;«)d patting' them aside in f^^jf^f^l^^M^imNl life of the bacteria order^in a way which he ; could jpnlj. regard ,m spoataneoui. D* (Bastinn, g«ire », deUUed, aeocuat of his i expf rimenti, and tk«y, were. repwted. by sersralezperimeatertfwithTMyiogreaiiltot; 1 9»mo adoceeded in obtiwinf Hfe- *r Dr.! 1 Baitian had done, aodin »'way wWcih they 'Considered confirmed-" hit conclusion!. Oth«r«,«fter taking eVery> preet^tba to ! extirpate Me in the infusions, and to pr«- -----: vent ihe in((4F««s of K«rsM» leund-thftt the ; infusions remained unaltered fpr any length of time^ and they hare inferred 'either that Dr Bastian failed to kill life in, ; the liquids he operated upon, or ttiat the seeds of life found subsequent admission. ! Ultimately the experimentation was taken in hand by Professor Tyndall, to whom | must be ascribed the .twofold credit ef j having, by some beauttfuUr simple and jdecisire ezperin^enta, abaolutely, decided ' the points in dispute,, and of haring, by the lucid and lncisire paparadn which his experiments and their.results hare been I stated, achiefedaj TietofyincootroTersy as definite as. that he,hat gained in experimental science,, We proceed to give a brief review of the closing stages of this controversy, takio| ? for our authority the i papery which bate been pub'-ished by Dr Tjndajl and Dr Bastiau in the last three ! numbers of the Nineteenth Century. ; Before indieatia* the points that had to be finally .deteMHiiwd to t eioae 'this coutro. rersy we may make a few observations on : what we may call the . T (< scientific in* terest" -in the disputed Attpnf the ; eToiutionUjtjStbe belief is ge«Hpraliy held |; that as one form of life has" na'fnrally | arisen from" anothe^o has life itself, in ' some conditions favourable.for itadevelop* ment,^ WiseV" g^lUe&n * mafterV" It would give this beJief Jthe Vupport of de< i monitratioji, Vrtd atthesa^erime would lend greafaid to the de^ij^ent -theory as a whole.'xould if bjß shown that this development o^ ; |heJLif ipgipm the lifeless wa« now going ou. o So far a» scientific ;thou«^4;,n«a wyippeooiUHT^interest on leither 'a^Jft.ot «% ss9*l% it'W.ou that of Dr Bastr*Q> But in reality' science has but one inter^t. ao4 *&* is toe duoonry of truths wad ii*. i» .instructive that among the-' n»t4f pronounced opponents of the to be found some ,ot,, the mott prominent I evolutionists of the day. Let us quote | what Dr Tyndalt"h«; to say on the i subject:— . • i 'VA» to aoy bias, orpwjodieejror fern ««w eortclutioß, thail raa*"lrtwet nic if i tW« swtter, I have only to< Wmiad' tt^e reader that few peraon* a+**pTesrt»t day hare more distinetiy awwed belief in the •pp^eaoy.^ Bailee,' and,ihafc/ew hare paid :fflw> I deM)y j .for th« a?owal thao ay. self. The criticism of higb-ioiaded sehelatj^awijißttiTate^fPßtlemog; atxell as the Tituperatioa <>f .individuals who have not yet^reachfcd Hhat 'place in nature' where~geUli&Ullnly feeling oones into play, hare been, liberajly beetosrei iip^m* r Itt a Jelled 1 rii«ntlr reeetfed from 1 tot excellent friend Mr* OfirerWanHolmesrheTJytiy remarks that.l Aooldprobably have been well saiiisW fiad^iny^ inquiries in relation to the prennt question }v^i\JUkn JtouebeJ: instead of Pasteur. With the fiewj, iadapd, *bich J upon this sjubjejjt,; it flpecialj|y behoves 'me '"^-.rtsijbe care mr judgment of experimental evidence. kept apaft |the speculative .t^ ww prpTPffi i laiitidffffß his canons J reduced IHenTVo" practibe. My sole eare'nlS been that ihe potency of ' truth should Be vindicated;. aadno^lenier Of the potency of maitet;e^u]d, labour more^ strenuously than 1" hsir^,4»na to demonstrate its impotence as spontaneous generation. ainj;, therefore, unshaken'belief'in that foin» of '.materialism'i to already given utteranoev I'bere affirm Chat no shred of trustworthy - experimental .testimony exists 1 to prove that life, in our day, has ever appeared' independently of antecedent life." '"• v "*">" ' ' ■ But to-come to the v qriestibta' at issue iMid the mode'of its determination. Ihe poeifioh maintained by Dr Bastian, and the evidence hi? eajjtfd in, its support, have been set forth in fofifloer arficles in ThlTXustraTasranr " In 6'nebf nfa; addresses he stated his position'in these words, " With the view of settling these questions, there/ore, we may carefully prepare an infusion from some animal tissue, be it muscle, kidney, or liver; we may place it in afla«k» whose neck is drawn out and narrowed in i^e blowpipe flame; we may cboil the- fluid, 's^l the Te«sel daring f ebullition, and await t£e result, as I have %ftendone.J After, a vari* 0*6 time» $* fprevioasly.'heiatediflDid within the **" meiticaUy,jiealedflask swarmsmore^leM plentifully with bacteria- and allied orgau>' isms." ,£o this statement, of his case Dr. •Tyndall makesthe following reply :— " Special c^are, I thought, was needed in the performance of experiments which lay at the basis of a subject of this importance. I was pot §ure<that the speaker had observed this care. I therefore took •hini at his- word, prepared' infusions "of animal tissue*, odmpria'ing m'tition', b>ef, fowl, wild duck, partridge, plover, pheasant, snipe, rabbit, hare, haddbek, Epullet, codfish,'" sole,' and. other .sußstances. ji placed them in flasks 'with necks na>. rowed and drawn out in the blowpipe flamo.' I boiled' the. fluids, sealed the during eb ( ullitioi-and. awaited.the result. . .. . He had affirmed that they would swarm with bacteria and allied of. Qism t s. ? hey ;d» 9»«eUy refund to do so. Ibis thing was not done in a coraer. One hundred and thirty such flasks wen submitted to the secretary of the Royal Society in January, 1876, while of them were critically examined by the biological secretary of the society, Pro* feisor Huxley. In one flssk, and in on* only, a small mycelium--was discovered, and it, as Professor Huxley remarked at

the time afford*4a,dramatic confirmation of the overwlrefimnji" evidence otherwise adduced. In thili fla«fev and in it only, a small orrfiuer was—diicoTercdr*through which the infueioh Could 1 be projected; and by which the germinal matter of the air had access to^he!flack." ■■ ■',

In experiments of this kirjid'.'whein, after boiling, lilfe^anif^ks itieif in 'thfe'prepared infuiion,'; 'its qriiff {'yi*"' P. uW appear,^aecbun^ple explanations. ■'j^\Tw ir^ <|m9y';h«|fe,'be'cii some germs of M 60*1 icilleA^by.!s£ exposure to a boiling temperature. '2. The germs of life 'inky have Been supplied by the air irthritiimfofl^rai^^ atmosphere* rf3-.-Jt may arwe ctpont!ineously/ With 1 Vegard4din^-flfsirof these it is proved in the first place that certain germs can resist the ordinary temperature of boiling wit^fpirioni© hpiir > and preserve their vitality, and in the second place-thftt by adoptinfrVsxritiibia <n&thod this difficulty;, c^u-be gQt over and the germs entirely d,eßtrpvecL. Consequently, • if the ■ proper p&cWtibns* 1 to v ensure the; luccess of the erserini«iit:are taken, any ' possibility of its being vitiated in this way is. precluded." r Thi>-.reduces us to two aiyrriaflve^iriife^ipp^ars'in the infusion it either i*. igenerated spontaneously ok it is jerive4 £r«m Jhe germs fiejatin^ in OMOjM&SMW^-Utt^ us see now how Jbese* alternatives are affected by the experiments described by ProfessoVrj TiyitfUHc in I bMitwo c°n tributions under notice. In the first place we- have seen- by the-extract before quoted that when the jflasksTeraain sealed and the access of* air.is prevented, their contents remain in an unchanged state for any length of time. Tb the defelo'pJnent of life, then, whether spontaneous cr otherwise, the access of aft is essential; But, says Dt Bistian, this only shows that to the fermentation putrefaction in which life originatesy ihe f air, as air, 1 contributes an element or agency. According to {he "wofdFin which Professor Tyndalt states the theory, • • The' dead particles of the liquid are kindled'into life by the dead • particles bf the air." It remains,' tb'eiP, j to'discover 1 whether pure; atmospheric air'is, adequatetoJthß productioh of tJi^^raeb^^ff/libiiit'liu'l^'eD' tested by T .l|r Tynftalri'n matiy ditfereht ways; "He'i^ok a,n,umber (> of y the sealed flasks to th^^sijand'tKeire> opened their sealed ends on tle~edge~bTa lofty windswept precipice, allowing; the, perfectly pure moteless air of those upper regions to enter. They were then-closed, and still remain for- any length of tinie unaltered. At the same time some precisely •similar flasks were openedJn a^hayloft^,in,,air laden -with the sporesoffiy-baciHus, and the result is thaf^ithin. three days they are swarming-withbacteriav Again, the air admitted to tfeem in-atmosphere known to be impure is iifie^Ußd; strained, by beiDg made to v pass th¥o'Hgßl'plugs<oii cotton wool, and again the~air fails to exert any. effect, wbile^aVif riotPprdtebtea-by afty such p'recWutidh ire sb'on^livfe^itHorgan. isms. Or, again^a sealed cfcimber containing air ii£ib&^fe(M <iifl'l^^e¥/3o(^r t pure when tested bythe admission of a beam of light is constructed and contains specimens of;the ihfufcfc^«; 9\Wit'h;rss*dj to this e'xpenm'eiit and its teachings"\prbfessot'Tyndidifs'^s :^"";.V;,.;;;-^ . ;"lie't.th|ereader' placejbefore'^hiamind one. of tjje' sealed cTiamfcersj;,. lei'Hm, figure its series ".. of tesit r tu bes, charged with infusions which, exposed to optically pure air, have, remained -sweet and clear: for six months jn a warm room.l Let the reader now suppose the door of the sealed chamber to be opened,'and a bunch of dry hay,to; be shaken. in the motelessyiafrofj the chamber. A beam sent through that air now shows it to b> laden with dust. Forty-eight hours after this dust has been; let loose/the infusions are found ■to have-' a fatty, corrugated scum upon their sur-; faces ; it may fee wltn'a deir* or it may be with a turbid Hqnid underneath. When^his: scumPis^elaj^nijcVit is found' to consist of cbthtless multitudes of the hay bacillus matted j together. Whaf are 1 to conclude,? '"^henc^ hUire .these or-1 ganisms* cojne P ''£ say.' there .Ja" but one, interpretiso^ i •/-• t :> .I^© interpretation itV that the organisms. have ] come from the sgerm of bacillus subtilis which have : been shaken from the hay. In giving this inferpre'tationM and iri 1 asserting it to be the only one, I am not, I submit, arbitrarily setting my set upon the possibilities of nature, but loyally and dutifully following her teaching as an obedient son;' -■'. ( ' .." ' In anotherpJac^i pt: TyMail asks.his opponent "Why, when your sterilised organic infusion is exppsed to optically pure air^ should .this generation of life de novo utterly cpase^ Why .should' I be able to preserve.my turnip juice side by side with your;saline solution for 365 days of the year in free, connexion with; the general atmosphere, on the sole condition that the portion of the atmosphere in contact with the juice shall be visibly free from floating* tiust, while three days' exposure to that dust fills it with bacteria P. There is no answer.: Again.he says— " The evidence is already recorded against him [Dr Bastian] in the industrial arts was simply overwhelming. Not by hundreds, nor by thousands, but by millions the witnesses might be counted which contradict him. For what are most of our preserved meats and vegetables but the results of experiments in which his instructions have been carried out and his

statements disproved ? Animal.and vege

table tissues are placed in this vessel, each with a small hole in the lid. The tins are boiled, steam issues through the hole, and, after some minutes boiling, the tin is hermetically, sealed. This is, to all intents and purposes, the process • described by my correspondent before the Pathological Society. Every sound tin thus prepared is therefore a witness against him.

It is not requisite to follow the argument any further. Unless we are prepared to deny' all of Professor Tyndall's facts we have no alternative but to adopt his conclusions. He has proved that infusions of the kind desciibed do not become fertile of life without air, and that they do not become fertile with air, unless that air contains organic germs.' It is absolutely useless to carry opposition beyond this point. We can no more resist the evidence that the germs are the actual seeds of the life than we can refuse to regard a crop of growing corn as the product of the seed corn sown six months before. Dr Sastian's experiments . are shown to be wanting in several decisive tests, and all of the results by which he considered he had demonstrated the possibility of spontaneous generation are logically annihilated. We are brought back to the point that, in present conditions, to the existence of life proceeding life,is requisite, and the belief in its spontatnous origin,.if not refuted or shown to be impossible, must be -held j roved to be wanting in the support of any trace of cfideuce. •