The Press SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1902. ARE METALS ALIVE?

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11461, 20 December 1902, Page 6

The Press SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1902. ARE METALS ALIVE?

A aomewhat sensational article in the "&e~ view of Reviews" for November olaims that a Hindu physicist—(Prof. Chundey Bose—has discovered life In the metals. The article professes to have been written by a "competent hand," but internal evidence shows clearly that the miter knows little physic* and lees oiology. The experiment* of Prof. Bose are sufficiently r«markable to deserve better treatment than they have received at the hands of the reviewer. Prof. Bose is an able end well-known professor of physio at Calcutta, and his articles on "Response in Metals," published La various leading ecientifio publications, indicate that he has apparently discovered a, hitherto unknown electrical phenomenon of considerable importance. Hie book on the subject bus not as yet reached us, but is evidently on amplification of his articles. The Profeaor would probably be the last to chum that he bas definitely proved the existence of life in the metals, though since the publication of Herbert Spencer's "First Principles" evolutionists and ecientifio men in general have deemed it probable that life has been developed from inorganic matter. Yet the biologist 'has found that the more penetrating ibis methods of investigation are tihe mote complex are found to be the simplest forms of life, and the wider the gulf fixed between dead and living matter. Probably every living cell contains in its protoplasmic mass a minute microscopic organ called the nucleus. This wben examined without special methods of preparation appears to be only a point of somewhat denser protoplasm; but delicate methods of staining and sectioning show that it apparently controls the cell during the processes of reproduction ; and that itself at the same time goes through 3. complex series of changes with almost kaleidoscopic rapidity. In is unnecessary to aay that not evea cells—let alone any traclear structure- have ever been found in lifeles* matter. But apart from structure, living matter is characterised by the presence of three processes (1) response to stimulus, (2) the power of assimilation and growth, (3) the power of reproduction. It is the first of these processes that Prof. Bose claims to bave found in inorganic matter. His experiments undoubtedly show that there is found in most if mot in all metals, a certain response to mechanical and chemical stimuli, roughly comparable to that found in animals. At the same time although ie has shown that the effects of stimuli n animal or plant and metal we analogous, it does not follow that they ire homologous in the biological sense —i.e., axe eprung , from the same source, )r are of the same nature. The essential part* of Professor Bose's ipparatus are very simple. He attaches /he wire, whose response is to be measured n a peculiar manner to non-polaris&ble 'lectrodee, winch in turn are connected *ith an ordinary D'Arsonval dead-beat galranometer. A blow, a pinch, or a twist s now given to the wire, and the deflection >f the galvanometer at once indicates the levelopment of a transient electric current.

This is a not unexpected result, for it is generally supposed that nil chemical and physical changes are associated with changes of electric potential; but in this form the experiment is new. Further, the electric "weponee" shows several striking and unlooked-for characteristic*. If, for example, one half of a wire be vibrated for a time, the electric excitability of that half will be found to be more or less permanently augmented. If the wire is put into hot water and allowed to cool, the response will again bo considerably enhanced, though water at a liigh temperatu\« temporarily reduces the response. At limes, from causes that are not obvious, the wire gets into a. very eluggish condition, when the response almost disappears. But the strangest effects are those produetd by certain chemicals upon the sensitiveness of tie wire. Of course the application of an electrolyte at one end of the wire will, as ie well known, produce a email potential difference, which will be indicated by a permanent deflection of the galvanometer; but after this and other possible sources of error have been eliminated, it i» .still found that tlw galvanometer mirror reacts in a specific way when one end of the test wire i» touched by various chemical solutions. Thus the excitability of the Mire is much increased when it is touched with common washing soda, whereas a mere trace of oxalic acid acts as a depressant. Whilst three parts of caustic poiaeh in 1000 of water produce a positive variation of the mirror, a solution of three parts in 100, on the other hand, causes it to exhibit a negative variation, or decrease in excitability. A still more striking phenomenon has yet to be described. If the wire is touched at one point with carbonate of soda and at another with oxalic acid, and then thoroughly washed co that 09 trace of either substance is left upon it; when the electrode passes over the spot touchied by the soda, there is a vigorous positive movement of the galvanometer, and on reaching the point touched by the oxalic acid a vigorous negative variation. Other chemicals in a similar way increase, depress, or altogether abolish the response. These curious reactions, it will be seen, are not unlike the various response phenomena in living tissues, but it is quite possible that come, if not all, of them may be due to molecular changes induced in the wire by the stimulus. At any rate, though it may be premature at present to attribute them to physical or chemical causation oJ the ordinary type, it in surely still moxo premature to attribute them to eemi-physio-logical changes going on in the metal—as Professor Bose has done. Hβ has undoubtedly been influenced in this by his desire to find oorroboration for a monistic philosophy in the facts of the external worid. On* is rather tired of hearing, the admirers of various eminent biologists and 1 physicists bringing forth arrogant "claim* on their behalf. Loeb, Dβ Vrie», and Bo* bemselves would certainly be much more wdest. . Life in the Spenoeriaa sens* robably exists in all and through all ; ut life in the biologic use of the term ii ertainly confined .to ordinary plant arid roimaJ organieme; aaid he -who wishes fa prove that it exists more widely wjU hays not only to bring forward experiment*] evidence on behalf of his theory, bu£ wi{] also have to grapple with eoine of the meet difficult philosophic problems known a> man.