Abstract
ARGUING from the fact that the moon's mass bears a higher ratio td that of the earth than does the mass of any other satellite in the solar system to that of its planet, Dr. Gray and Mr. Bligh contend that the earth-moon binary system is due to an encounter with some third body, that a great quantity of energy was made available at the time of the encounter, and that this energy was converted into sub-atomic energy, the energised atom being vital. Vital atoms have the power of vitalising other atoms. A detailed structure is proposed; the vital atoms are a binary system of two or more protons, surrounded by appropriate electron shells. The chemistry of these vital atoms is extremely complex-more so than that of the non-vital atoms. The authors attempt to disarm criticism by printing on the cover the statement that “a proof of that degree and kind that the scientific world rightly demands of all theories, it is maintained, applies only to materialistic phenomena, and insistence on such proof when dealing with animate matter cannot be sustained”. We imagine that this point of view will not find much favour with biochemists, and we had imagined that the identification of animate with non-animate chemistry was as old as the synthesis of urea.
The Origin of Living Matter.
By Dr. H. A. Gray N. M. Bligh. Pp. vi + 27. (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd.; London: Simpkin Marshall, Ltd., 1933.) 1s. 6d. net.
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The Origin of Living Matter. Nature 132, 876 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132876a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132876a0