WHAT IS LIFEP

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9641, 16 January 1903, Page 4

WHAT IS LIFEP

i HE LATEST ANSWER TO THE OLD RIDDLE. Carl SnydiT contributes a brief, inten.seiy ink-resting paper to Harp.i-'s for November, entitled "The Newest Conceptions of Life." He declines tlial the physical process of life is no lunger a riddle. A SERIES OF FERMENTATIONS. Physiology has now .solved the riddle, and 'the answer is that life is simply a. series of fermentations. He describes the various stages by which biologists, m the course of 60 years, have, arrived at the conclusion thai for every vital function there is a ferment, and the sum of their activities, which we call life, is no more than a series of fermentations. It is an Knglislunan — Croft Hill — who three or four years ago discovered that, under given conditions, the destructive action of a ferment is reversible. Under the influence of on* ferment a substance can be broken up, ami the addition of another ferment will put these products togeibher so as to form the original compound. The biological puzzle of the hour is to- ascertain what are these ferments. So far they have utterly baffled enquiry ; they are compounded of water, air, and carbon, but no one can say how they are put together. THE MANUFACTURE OF LIFE. But we may hear of their chemical synthesis m our day, ami I hat will be but a prelude to the manufacture of life m the laboratory. This new conception of life leads some scientists of lively and daring imagination to believe that, perhaps all the processes oX life are reversible; that, under given, conditions, the oak would become an acorn and the grown man a child. The discovery that one ferment will undo the work of another gives Mr Snyder reason to hope that wemay discover m our day the veritable fountain of life. What we call growiiij. old seems merely a series of destructive I fermentations : "As the discovery of the constructive ferments gave at last a clue to a complete account of the whole life process. «) to those who have closely and reflectively followed the development of bio-chemis-try, the discovery of reversibility m fermentation may m time disclose the reversibility of the life process ; the more concrete phrase, the arrest of death, the prevention of old age, the -preservation of youth." Mr Snyder maintains that the discoveries of the last few years— "Give earnest of the day when, the mode of actioiu of the ferments being as well knoiwib as the working of rennet m the making of cheese now," the action of the cellular ferments may be reversed at will ; I the fabric they have reared would go down piece by' piece, - ue separate parts | shrink, coalesce.* decrease, until, perhaps, iwiught. remained save a formless clot of ! jelly-like stuff— the jelly of life." LIFE IN CRYSTALS. ! In connection with this article m HarpI er's may be read Signor Giovanni Colazza's paper m the Theosophical Review, which Mrs Oakley translates from the Italian. It is entitled "Life m Crystals," and is an. account of the results which have been obtained by Professor von | Schron, who has devoted , the last 18 years to a study of crystals. As Professor Bose discovered that metals have feelings, so Professor von Schron maintains that the barriers between organic and inorganic kingdoms can be swept away. Crystals show vital phenomena — first, individual motion; secondly, a structured evolution m the matter of which they are constituted ; thirdly, an internal characteristic movement m. the shape of vibrating waves. Professor von Schron lias derived from his researches a religious conception of the universe, and asserts that his religious feeling developed itself m direct proportion m his penetration into the so-called secrets of Nature. In the same number of the Theosophical Review, Mrs Besani discusses Professor Bose's discovery, and maintains that his experiments have established, on a definite basis of physical facts, the teachin-p of occult science' as to the universality of life.