People Talked About

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11, 18 March 1905, Page 2

People Talked About

The Late and the Present Kings of Saxony. King George of Saxony, whose por trait we give on this page*, and who died late last year, only reigned for just over two years, having succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Albert in 1902. and lie was then in his seventieth year. The late King was best known, prior to his succession, for his skill as a general, which was first manifested in 1 he retreat which be conducted after the defeat of the allied army by the Plus sians at Koniggratz. He also took a pro minent part in the Franco-German War. subsequently holding many important commands with much success. 11e was regarded as a man of very considerable ability, was a musician of no mean skill, ami in Court Circles was considered to possess a literary talent not inferior to that of his father, the poet. King John. The new King, who has assumed th” title of King Frederick Augustus 111., is 39 years of age. and is the son of the late King. He is said to feel very great interest in all military matters and ell joys considerable popularity both in th? army and among the people. 4* 4* 4' Professor Jacques Loeb and file Secret of Life. The origin of life is a problem that in all ages has engaged the attention of all thoughtful men. and within the last century the immense strides made by inodern science have encouraged t he hope that the great secret of the universe may yet be revealed by chemical or physiological research. One of the most interesting attempts yet made to solve the probl in on the purely material side has been made by the American scientist whose name appeared in the cables last week Professor

Jacques I>»eb. This eminent physiologist is only forty-five years old, but lie has already compressed into his life more productive and suggestive work in his own special line of investigation than the whole of last century could show. The fertilisation of the sterile eggs of the sea urchin by purely chemical means, if verified by further observations, will only be one in a long series of experiments that have placed Professor Loeb in the foremost rank of the natural scientists of the age.

Encouraged by many important previous successes. Professor Loeb recently turned his attention to the biological aspects of his problem, and the results that he has reached are indicated in our cable messages last week. So far as was known, all organic life results from the fertilisation of odules or egg cells by sperm cells; and Professor Loeb set himself to examine the process of fertilisation in the lower ranges of animal life. Taking the eggs of sea urchins from the ovary before there could be the slightest possibility of (Contact wlith the sperm cells, Loeb placed them in the ordinary sea water in which the animals live, and found that they developed precisely as if fertilised. Subsequently. after many trials, he succeeded in finding a solution of chloride of magnesium which caused the eggs to develop exactly as they would when fertilised in the normal way. This discovery was made some five years ago when Professor Loeb was at Chicago University, but he appears to have repeated his experiments recently at California University with more definite results. Nor has be been content with what seems to bo the solution of the problem of the origin of organic life on its lower levels. Having shown that while unfertilised eggs, which left to themselves quickly die. may be made to live by chemical fertilisation, he set himself to discover if death, being a specific process of disintegration, could not be checked by chemical moans. Among other interesting facts ho found that the unfertilised eggs of the echinus, if placed in a weak solution of potassium cyanide, could be kept alive for several days. Tt seems paradoxical, he

admits, that bfe may thus bo maintained by a powerful poison; but if wo conceive of a specific mortal process which may be held in check, and regard the potassium cyanide as suspending this “mortiforous” action, the difficulty largely disappears. These are indeed startling results; and it is not strange

that American scientists have shown a tendency to exaggerate the importance of Professor Loeb’s work, and to jump too hastily to the conclusion that he has already solved in their entirety the

great problems of Life and Death. However. the history of science records many premature theories and abortive hypotheses that, though they seemed as conclusive as Professor Loeb’s, have yet

lieen discredited and abandoned. And it must be recollected that all such experiments deal only with the physical manifestations of life, and that fascin a ting a* such hypotheses are. no theory based on pure materialism can possibly bridge the gap that separates the subtler forms of intellectual or spiritual life from the inert matter, which, in some mysterious way. seems to contain, though not to create, the promise and potency of all higher being.

The Widow of the Grand Duke Serge. It will be rciiieiiilicH'd that though the “removal" of the notorious and cruel Grand Duke Serge had Immmi decided on some day* previous to the carrying out of the death sentence, no attempt was made on his life when ho was accompanied by the Grand Duchess, who was in fact warned not to go out with her husband, as “no one wished to hurt her. Naturally she accompanied him everywhere after the warning until prevented by unavoidable circum stances, and on this, the first occasion of his appearing in public alone, tin* hated Serge was deservedly done to death. I’he Duchess, who is a niece of King Edward, ami elder sister of the Tzarina. is one of the most indefatigable workers for the wounded Russian soldiers, ami a gentle and kindly lady. We publish a beautiful and rare picture of Her Imperial Highness, taken prix ately at Darmstadt last autumn.

This is the only authentic portrait of Father Gapon that has yet been publish.si. Standing by his side amid the strikers is General Fullon. the ex-Governor of St. Petersburg who was replaced by the notorious "policeman’’ General TrepofT. Father Gapon is of Ita'ian descent, one of his ancestors. Gabboni, having followed Napoleon I. to Moscow.