Biology; the Science of Life.

Any other discoveries or developments in biology made during 1902 are entirely overshadowed by the startling theory of Dr. Jacques Loeb, of the University of Chicago, who announced at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, held in Chicago December 31, 1901, that he had discovered the true "basic principle" of life. So surely did his words ring, and so well directed had been his experiments, that when he said in unequivocal language that he believed electricity to be the direct cause of all organic processes, there was not a note of incredulity raised in the assembly. Dr. Loeb's assertions were supplemented by the statements of Dr. Alfred F. Mathews, also of the University of Chicago, who worked in conjunction with Dr. Loeb, confining himself to nerve action, however. His discoveries, as he announced then, coincided generally with those of his colleague, and he, too, received the praise due to his efforts. A member of the society and a worldrenowned physiologist, in speaking of Dr. Loeb's theory, said that it opened a new heaven and earth for physiology, and the destruction of the very basic principle of the science would necessitate the revision of all its text books.

Dr. Loeb's theory began to develop when he commenced experiments to observe what effect electricity, the most universal known and effective stimulus, had upon protoplasm, the substance of which all organic cells consists. He found that a positive charge of electricity brought into contact with protoplasm had the effect of retarding the ative charges stimulated therefore, that if elec currents would have this might be expected from or groups of atoms, called metal salts are known be readily determined were positive or nega

During the Summer laboratory at Wood's on experiments along this various salts upon the an animal of the lower along the Atlantic coast. salt would act as a poi another would have the their development. different effects were due the atoms composing the charged.

He

a

It was while experi that he discovered ficial parthenogenesis. tilized eggs of the sea water, but would not de minute quantity of a eggs to develop exactly ized. When Dr. Loeb an or it was announced for as material for innumer were so distorted and ex was placed in a most pe of science. He is inter thenogenesis only so far er work, and he does. not first to discover a means of living eggs. In fact, work was the discovery brought about by posi

It might be well to that the elixir of life has

life processes, while negcontraction. He argued, tricity in the form of effect. then like results electrically charged atoms ions. The atoms of the to be ions, and it could whether their charges tive.

of 1901, at the biological Holl, Mass., he carried line, trying the effects of eggs of the sea urchin, order found plentifully He discovered that one son to the eggs while effect of stimulating inferred, then, that the to the manner in which eggs are electrically

menting in this direction means of producing artiHe found that the unferurchin would live in sea velop. The addition of a calcium salt caused the as when naturally fertilnounced this discovery, him, it was seized upon able stories, and the facts aggerated that Dr. Loeb culiar light before men ested in artificial paras it relates to his greatclaim to have been the of artificial fertilization the chief result of his that parthenogenesis was tively charged ions only. call attention to the fact not been discovered to be

common salt, in spite of the fact that the statements that it was and that a free use of salt would sustain life indefinitely and might even bring life back to apparently dead bodies were credited to Dr. Loeb without reason, because some of the results of his experiments with saline solutions had been announced prematurely. Having determind that electrically charged atoms of saline salts affect protoplasm, Dr. Loeb set about

to find out which were toxic and which anti-toxic, which were poisons and which helped to sustain life. After a series of experiments he found that when one salt proved to be toxic, the addition of other salts, of opposite electrical charges, would counteract the toxic effect of the first. It could be readily and safely inferred, then, that to preserve the best life conditions it is necessary that the positive and negative charges balance nicely. The phenomena of life, he decided, are due to the play between th different charges of electricity within the molecules; to a constant differing of electric potential. Death is due to an oversupply of either positive or negative ions.

Two conclusions were reached by Dr. Loeb and announced at the meeting in Chicago. The first is that rhythmic contraction-life-occurs only in the presence of electrically charged substances, and the second that the efficiency of these charges depends upon the number of charges in the ions. Professor Mathews arrived at a third conclusion, that only positively charged ions would produce contractions.

Dr. Mathews, as a result of the experiments conducted by himself, declared that not only is life due to electricity, but that the basis of all nerve action is electricity. A nerve is a gelatinous substance, the atoms of which are electrically charged. A current of nerve force is set in motion when the atoms communicate their charges to one another. A theory something to this effect, dealing with brain action, was announced by Professor Ramon y Cajal, of the University of Madrid, several years ago, but it had for its basis mechanical rather than electrical action.

Dr. Mathews explains the action of anaesthetics by the fact that these, being fat solvents, dissolve the collodial particles that compose nerves and prevent their "jellying," and so long as the nerves can be kept diluted no stimulus can be carried along them. The thinning of the nerve substance acts as resistance to the passage of the stimulus, just as the glass insulators on telegraph poles prevent the passage of the current from the wire to the ground, by offering a resistance that the electricly cannot overcome.

It is too soon after the announcement to say what effect Dr. Loeb's and Dr. Mathews's work will have on science. Scientists are not ready to accept as true any statement that has not been thoroughly proven, and until much more work has been done along the lines started by these two savants physiologists will be careful about speculating. One thing seems certain, however, that if Dr. Loeb and Dr. Mathews have not been overpowered by the fever of discovery and led to aceept as conclusions what are really no more than means toward some other end, their theory will settle once for all the question of the nutritive value of foods. Heretofore men have been able to discriminate as to the relative importance of foods only by actual experience. Now, knowing the chemical constituents of foods, their electrical properties may be easily determined and consequently their capacity for sustaining life. Speculation, however, has no value in modern science, except that it may lead to an end objectively

Gathering Biological Specimens.

provable. That Dr. Loeb's theory, if true either in part or in its entirety, will bring about a marked change in the economic life of the race cannot be denied. It is taking from heat and giving to electricity the first place in the problem of vitality, and it is showing how the very depths of the secret of production and existence can be probed and results determined about which there can be no shadow of doubt.

Dr. Buetschll, a German savant, carried on a series of experiments in 1901 and 1902 which, while not arriving at the same results as those of Dr. Loeb, nor attempting to touch upon exactly the same phases of the science of life, were nevertheless of a somewhat similar nature, and would have attracted as much popular attention had not Dr. Loeb's work offered such excellent grounds for speculation. Dr. Buetschli's experiments were carried on with the intention of discovering, if possible, in just what life consists. He wished to determine whether life were a real "essence," whether there were a true vital spark" that entered the body at birth and left it at death, or whether what is called life were not simply the result of conditions. He discovered that something which nearly resembled life could be induced in what is generally thought to be dead matter. He succeeded after many experiments in making what he called "oll foam," consisting of particles of soapsuds enveloped in particles of olive oil. These particles of "oil foam" showed under the microscope a power of motion, apparently independent of external influences, and acted in all ways like some of the unicellular animalculae. There was noticed something like the throwing out of pseudopida or false feet," a power especially prominent in some forms of amoeba. The phenomenon of reproduction by division seemed to take place, and there was certainly the congregating of the individuals and the attractiveness of certain foreign substances which are so distinctly noticeable in many of the animalculae.

Scientists have not been so ready to accept Dr. Buetschli's theory that apparent life can be developed in inanimate substances as they were to accord credulity to Dr. Loeb. They feel that he may have been led to conclusions unjustified by the experiments, and further work by him is awaited before he is accepted or rejected.

There is soon to be opened at Sharon, Mass., a few miles from Boston, a novel scientific undertaking to be called the Sharon Biological Laboratory. The object of this institution will be to take up experimental work in biology largely in its relation to social economics. The director, George W. Fields, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is its founder, and it is receiving the support of scientists all over the country.

The observatory is meant to serve a twofold purpose. First, it will prove a Mecca for educational pil

grimages of students and teachers interested in the science, and, second, it will offer an opportunity for all men interested in modern economic problems, such as the purification of sewage and the disposal of garbage in cities and the development of agricultural pursuits in the country, to experiment under the best possible conditions and with the advice and instruction of technical biologists. The work was begun on a small scale in 1902, and by the Summer of 1903 it will be pushed with much vigor. A great deal of field work will be done, and especial attention will be given, during the first years, to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by bacteria.

He

Hugo de Vries, of Amsterdam, carried on a work in 1901 along the line of the evolution of species. showed by experiments with the ordinary evening primrose that new species may occur suddenly, by mutation, and not by the process of progressive variation. Professor E. B. Wilson, of Columbia University, in

the same year carried on a series of investigations on the centrosomes of eggs that had been developed by artificial parthenogenesis.

As might be expected, the study of the life processes arouses a great deal of opposition on the part of those who seem to think such study may tend to a breaking down of old beliefs regarding creation and immortality. But the idea of the study of life is not to find a means of throwing God out of the universe, no more than the study of geology has for its object the destruction of the idea of creation. Both try to get at the substratum of truth that lies at the base of nature. Science cannot exist without religion, says Dr. G. Stanley Hall, for religion, either of "credo" or "non credo," is as necessary to man as hope or love or ambition.

The opposition to the work of biologists such as Dr. Loeb and Dr. Mathews is due to the same prejudices that imprisoned Gallileo and scorned Copernicus.

Bolivia.

Capital:
LA PAZ.

The total area of Bolivia is 597,271 square miles. Its population is about 2,500,000, in the following proportions: Whites, 600,000; mixed whites and Indians, 700,000; domesticated Indians, 960,000; savage Indians, 240,000.

For the purposes of public administration Bolivia is divided as follows: First, political and military, 52 provinces; second, judicial, 7 districts; third, ecclesiastical, the whole Republic forming an ecclesiastical province, the religion being Roman Catholic, composed of an archdiocese and three dioceses; fourth, university, 5 districts.

The government is democratic and representative in form, the exercise of the sovereign powers being delegated to the legislative, executive and judicial departments.

Public instruction is divided into three general departments; the primary, which constitutes the free school system of the country; the secondary, which embraces the colleges and lyceums, and the superior, which includes the universities.

Bolivia posesses two distinct regions-the Sierra, or mountainous region of the western half, where the principal settlements are located, and the Montana, a vast, low plain, embracing the tropical forests and sparsely settled districts of the eastern part. In the Sierra, at a mean level of 12,488 feet above the sea, is Lake Titicaca, the most elevated sheet of fresh water in the world. This lake is 120 miles long and from 30 to 50 miles wide, and has an average depth of about 100 fathoms. Two hundred and eighty miles south of this is Lake Poopi, which is approximately 30 by 50 miles, and is of sufficient depth for steam navigation at all times of the year. The Montana is the region of the great tropical forests and navigable rivers of the country. These low plains inclose vast territories of prodigious fertility and, endless forests of valuable timber.

The natural wealth of Bolivia is far greater than is generally supposed. The country is not only rich in gold and silver, but has an abundance of copper and tin of a superior quality. Precious stones, chiefly emeralds and opais, are also found in the maritime province of Atacoma, and vast deposits of nitrate of soda and guano. This vast natural wealth is, however, still largely unavailable, owing to the difficulty of transportation. The country is slowly but certainly awakening to the great possibilities of its mines, and the investment of foreign capital in this field is steadily increasing, while vastly better facilities for mining the ores and extracting the metal are being supplied in certain of its mining centres.

There are no better farming lands in the world than those of Eastern Bolivia and the warm valleys of the mountain regions, but until better means of transportation are provided she cannot hope to take prominent rank among the agricultural regions of America.

The last report of foreign commerce, issued in September, 1902, gives the imports for the preceding year at $16,953,223, and the exports at $37,578,219.

In 1900, a treaty of extradition with the United States was signed, and a convention for the exchange of money orders between the two countries has also been arranged.

THE EXECUTIVE CABINET.-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, M. Eliodoro Villazon; Secretary of the Interior, M. Jose Carrasco; Secretary of the Treasury, M. Ignacio Calderon; Secretary of Public Instruction, M. Andres S. Munoz; Secretary of War, M. Ismael Montes.

Brazil.

Capital:
RIO JANEIRO.

In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral was sent out by the King of Portugal to follow up the brilliant discoveries of Vasco de Gama in the East Indies. His fleet was carried by adverse currents and winds far to the westward of the intended course, and on April 22, Cabral unexpectedly found himself in sight of land. On the 25th anchor was cast in a commodious harbor, which the Spaniards named Porto Seguro. Cabral immediately took possession of the country in the name of his King, calling it Vera Cruz, a name afterward changed to Santa Cruz, which in turn gave place to the present one of Brazil. Upon arrival in Portugal of the news of the new discovery, a second fleet was fitted out under command of Americus Vespucci to visit and explore the new country, and this navigator, on his return to Portugal, published a map which bore the name of America. He carried home with him samples of dye woods, whole forests of which he reported as existing in the newlyfound territory. These dye woods immediately became the object of an extensive and lucrative traffic on the part of speculators, and merchants of other nations became engaged in the trade. Colonies were established, and in 1549, a Governor was appointed, vested with unlimited jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. The town of San Salvador de Bahia was founded and became the capital of Brazil. In 1555 a colony of French Protestants was founded on an island in the present bay of Rio Janeiro, but internal dissensions marred its success, and ten years later the colony was expelled from the island. In 1567 the city of San Sebastian was founded, and later called Rio Janeiro. The coast towns suffered much from the inroads of the French, English and Dutch, though none of these nations obtained a permanent foothold in the country.

In 1640 Brazil was erected into a principality, and the title of Prince of Brazil was conferred upon the Portuguese heir apparent, and Rio Janeiro was constituted the capital. In 1807, when Napoleon drove John VI. from Portugal, Brazil became the home of the Portuguese royal family, and on the fall of Napoleon in 1815, it was raised to the rank of a kingdom, John assuming the title of "King of Portugal, Algarve and Brazil." As a precautionary step against a revolution, a constitution was proclaimed February 26, 1821, and soon after John returned to Portugal, leaving his son, Prince Pedro, as regent. The expected revolution took place in April, 1821, and in October Brazil was proclaimed an independent Empire, with Pedro as Emperor. In 1826, upon the death of his father, Pedro became King or Portugal, but resigned the crown to his infant daughter. Donna Maria da Gloria. In 1831 he abdicated, leaving the throne to his son, Pedro II., then six years of age, and the country was governed by a regency until 1841. Wars with neighboring States occupied much of the history of Brazil until 1889, when, by a revolution, Pedro 11. was deposed and exiled, and the country declared a Republic under the title of the United States of Brazil. General Deodoro Fonseca was the first President. In November, 1891, he resigned, and Vice-President Feixoto took his place. Dissatisfaction led to a rising in Rio Grande do Sul, and a naval revolt in the Bay of Rio Janeiro, and these were terminated, the first in 1893, and the second in 1894. In 1902 Dr. Francisco de Paule Alves assumed the office of President.

According to the Constitution, adopted in 1891, when the Republic was formed, each State must be organized under the republican form of government, and must have its administrative, judiciary and legislative authorities distinct and independent. The Federal Executive cannot intervene directly in the local government of the States, but in case of obstinate infringement of the Federal Constitution by State authorIties, appeal may be made to the Supreme Tribunal of the Federal District. The Federal Legislative power is invested in a National Congress, consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber of Deputies consists of 212 members, elected for three years by direct vote. The Senators, 63 in number, are also chosen by direct vote, and the Senate is renewed to the extent of one-third every three years. The Vice-President of the Republic is President of the Senate. Elections for President are held on the 1st of March in the last year of each Presidential period. No candidate must be related by blood or marriage, in the first or second degree, to the actual President or Vice-President. The franchise extends to all citizens not under twenty-one years of age, duly enrolled, except beggars, "Illiterates," soldiers actually serving, and members of monastic orders under vows of obedience. In 1885 a bill was passed for the gradual extinction of slavery, and in 1888 slavery was absolutely abolished. The area of Brazil is 3,218,130 square miles, and at the last accepted census, made in 1890, the population was 14,333,983.

Bulgaria.

Capital:
SOFIA.

The Principality of Bulgaria was created by the Treaty of Berlin, which was signed July 13, 1878. In accordance with its provisions. Bulgaria became an autonomous and tributary principality, under the suzerainty of the Sultan of Turkey, with a Christian govern

Ferdinand, the youngest son of the late Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Princess Clementine, of Bourbon-Orleans, the daughter of King Louis Philippe, was unanimously elected Prince of Bulgaria, July 7, 1887, and, on August 14, 1887, assumed the reins of government. In May, 1893, the Grand Sobranje bestowed the hereditary title of "Royal Highness" upon the Prince, and this title has since been recognized by both the Porte and Russia.

Prince Ferdinand was born February 26, 1861, and was married April 20, Louise, the eldest daughter of Duke Robert of Parma. She died January 31, 1899.

3. Princess Eudoxie.

4. Princess Nadejda.

THE MINISTRY.-President of the Council and Minister of Finance, Karaveloff; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Worship. Daneff: Minister of the Interior, Sarafoff: Minister of War. General Paprikof; Minister of Public Works, Ways and Communications, Belinoff; Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, Ludskanoff; Minister of Justice, Radeff.

The estimated area of the Principality of Bulgaria proper is about 24,380 square miles, and of South Bulgaria, or Eastern Roumelia, 13,700 square miles. By a census taken in December, 1900, the population of the whole principality was found to be 3,733,189, including the population of Eastern Roumella, which was 1,091,854. The population is made up of Bulgarlans, Turks, Greeks, Roumanians, Gypsies, Spanishspeaking Jews, Tartars, Armenians, Germans and Austrians, Albanians, Russians, Czecks, Servians and others. The national faith is that of the Orthodox Greek Church, though in 1870 the Bulgarian Church was declared to be outside the Orthodox communion. The church is governed by a synod of bishops, which chooses

Besides

the ecclesiastical officers. The clergy is paid by the State, and receives fees for marriages, burials, etc. members of the Greek Church, there are Mohammedans, Jews, Roman Catholics, Armenian Gregorians and Protestants in Bulgaria.

Eastern Roumelia was created to remain under the direct political tan, under conditions of admin tember 18, 1885, the Government and the union of the province with was agreed that the government fided to the Prince of Bulgaria as now, for all purposes, forms a part tion at Sofia, which is now the popolis being merely the centre of a National Bulgarian Bank is at free public library is located there.

There are 4,589 elementary schools, 170 lower middle-class sity. Education is free and nomi four years, from eight to twelve. yearly subvention which provides being provided for in the munici munal authorities.

by the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, and military authority of the Sul. istrative autonomy. On Sepwas overthrown by a revolution, Bulgaria proclaimed. In 1886 it of Eastern Roumelia should be conGovernor-General. The province of Bulgaria, under the administraonly recognized capital, Phillipprefecture. A branch of the Philippopolis, and a branch of the

schools, 45 special and technical schools, 17 gymnasia and 1 univernally obligatory for a period of For education the State grants a for half the cost, the remainder palities and villages by the com

In Bulgaria the State is theo retically the owner of the land, the land holder having a perpetual lease descending to heirs, and paying one-tenth of the product each year by way of rent. The communes hold pasture-land and woodland in perpetuity and pay no rent. About five-sevenths of the popula tion is engaged in agriculture, most of them being small propri etors and holding farms of from one to six acres. The principal agricultural product is wheat. which is largely exported. All minerals by law belong to the State, and coal, stone, iron, gold. silver, lead and manganese found in paying quantities. Military service is obligatory from the age of twenty to forty-five, but Moslems are exempt on the payment of a tax. The navy consists of one torpedo boat, several small steamers and two armored vessels now building for the defence of the Danube.

are

The ruling Prince of Bulgaria is chosen by a National Assembly, which is elected by popular vote, but the Porte has final decision over elections. Political conditions always keep the state in turmoil. A desire to annex the neighboring parts of European Turkey, inhabited by Slavs, especially Macedonia, is widely cherished, and there is always more or less tension with Servia, Greece and Austria. The elections held in March, 1902, increased the membership of the opposition party, though the Government still has the majority in the Assembly. In October Turkey made a rather emphatic demand upon Bulgaria to prevent the passing of revolutionists across her boundaries into Macedonia.