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DREAM of science, which has been cherished for ages, has recently come so close to realization that the world has had a start, as it were. The artificial production of life, at which experimenters have aimed, almost since men first entered into any extended knowledge of the elements and of chemical action, appears to have been all but accomplished, and, while the man who has conducted the experiments which have shown such remarkable results, makes no loud acclaim over his discovery, he points to the work he has done and we can but wonder at it.

The accompanying illustrations show artificial plants which were produced in test

tubes by Professor Leduc of Nantes, France, as well as artificial seaweed produced from an artificial cell, also the culture of a single artificial grain. The artificial organs showing mushroom shape are of tremendous interest as well

LEDUC ARTIFICIAL SEED GROWTH.

The researches of Prof. Lehmann on apparently living crystals have been most interesting, and are said to have indicated that certain bodies behave like living organisms of the lowest type such as bacteria, although mineral in outward appearance, and Prof. Leduc has found that the vital functions in animal and vegetable cells are controlled exclusively by the laws of diffusion and cohesion in physics, or osmosis and molecular attraction.

The accompanying illustrations show Leduc's artificial plants which would defy many botanists in distinguishing from certain water plants and other representatives of the vegetable kingdom, although they are not living but are artificial bodies formed in the chemical laboratory.

ARTIFICIAL PLANT IN TEST TUBE.

as the liquid cell tissues with which experiments have been successful.

This French Scientist, professor in "l'Ecole de Medicine de Nantes," has obtained these curious artificial plants, cells and tissues from cane sugar, copper sulphate and potassium Ferrocyanide, and although they are composed of inert matter, these interesting objects sprout, branch and nourish themselves like actual living organisms.

There is a strong feeling among some scientists against not only attempting to convert one element into another, as dreamed of by alchemists of old, but of generating living beings from inert matter, and although the experimental work of Professor Leduc is remarkable and astonishing in its results, his theories are attacked by Prof. Gaston Bonnier, of Paris University and the Academie des Sciences.

ANOTHER FORM OF ARTIFICIAL PLANT IN TEST TUBE.

shoot

It is startling to observe how, from an artificial seed a small plant or springs up and develops with apparently the same forms of stems, leaves, buds and blossoms as the actual living plant, and all within a few hours' time.

One or two of Professor Leduc's experiments in producing artificial plants and cells may be given to show his methods of procedure. A small artificial seed about one-sixteenth inch in diameter is immersed in a solution of potassium ferrocyanide, sodium chloride and gelatine, varying from one to ten per cent. The seed consists of two parts of simple cane sugar or saccharose and one part of copper sulphate.

This little seed germinates in this aqueous solution in a few hours or a few days, determined by the experimentor according to the temperature he utilizes,

and it is claimed that under very favorable conditions, this process of germina

ANOTHER FORM OF ARTIFICIAL PLANT LIFE OF

MUSHROOM SHAPE.

The bell is tolling, the band playing "Nearer My God to Thee," and the passengers know even before they raise their eyes to the fair sweep of Virginia's shore line that the steamer is passing Mount Vernon. A pretty custom, this, the tolling of the bell and the playing of the fine old hymn. A hush falls on the crowded decks and one feels the thrill of patriotism stirring the hearts of the people.

But the present fine state of Mount Vernon is due to hard work and unselfish effort. In 1853, the home of Washington was in a rapidly deteriorating condition. John Augustine Washington, a son of General Washington's

nephew, was the owner of the estate. The descendants of Washington evidently did not inherit the clear business sense of their illustrious ancestor, for, in General Washington's time, the farm yielded a handsome income. Now, the fields were lying mainly untilled and useless and the house and outbuildings showed decay. The glory of that splendid home was departing. It is to the credit, however, of John Augustine Washington, that he refused absolutely to consider propositions advanced by private companies and individuals to purchase the estate, to be converted later into a pleasure re

sort.

Think of the desecration-a vaudeville