Page:Thruston speech upon the progress of medicine 1869.djvu/20

18 doubt that similar molecular energies come into play in all the processes of life.

Drs Hughes Bennett and Montgomery have already obtained most important results in their investigations upon the molecular properties of protagon, and have shown that under certain conditions it may be made to assume the forms of organized structures. It is very interesting to place these researches side by side with those of Dr Lionel Beale upon the formation of dead " formed material" by living "germinal matter."

Dr Bennett considers that many of the earliest forms of infusorial life may be made to arise at will by carefully attending to these conditions, and he quotes the observations of several continental physiologists in support of his conclusions. These investigations are, however, still sub judice, and need to be put to most searching proof before they can be accepted; although for the present Mons. Pasteur, the great opponent of the theory of spontaneous generation, may be unable to overthrow the results of Bennett, Pouchet and others.

These, then, are some of the many points at which chemistry and physics invade the territory of physiology and medical science. I must not now trespass longer upon your time. Sufficient has perhaps been said to show their intimate relations, and to urge those who are entering upon medical studies, to make practical acquaintance with these important branches of knowledge. Some may even be encouraged themselves to attempt independent lines of research, in order to raise another corner of the veil which conceals the mysteries of creation.