Reading 'Mechanism of Life' by Dr Stephane LeDuc, 1911 ...
".. I have dealt with the rise of Synthetic Biology, whose history and methods I have described. It is only of late that the progress of physico-chemical science has enabled us to enter into this field of research, the final one in the evolution of biological science." (from Introduction, xiv)
There are some really neat illustrations that look very much like fungi and slime moulds that LeDuc calls 'Osmotic Productions'. LeDuc believes in osmotic forces as being the fundamental organizing principle of 'physiogenesis'. He likens the long crystal formations of CaCl2 and MnCl2 in a solution of alkaline carbonate, phosphate and silicate to plants like the 'osmotic mushroom form'. Interestingly Fig 41 on P 131 (English Translation) of the 'Terminal organs like catkins, developing in a solution of ammonium chloride', are very similar to the 'worm casts' that I obtained with the protocell system. LeDuc obtained his growths by sowing 'fragments of calcium chloride in solutions of the alkaline carbonates, phosphates or silicates'.
