Such is the history of morphogenesis as described in 1902 by the authority most qualified for the task, Professor Quinke of Heidelberg.
In 1904, Professor Moritz Benedikt of Vienna treated the whole question in his book, Crystallization and Morphogenesis, of which a French translation appeared in the Maloine Library. This book is full of original and suggestive ideas; it describes the work of Harting, and more especially that of Van Schroën, who considers that crystals like living beings begin as a cell and grow by a process of intussusception. Professor Benedikt has made a complete résumé of the question in an article, "The Origins of the Forms of Life," which appeared in the Revue Scientifique in 1905.
In 1904, Professor Dubois of Lyons presented a report to the Society of Biology on his interesting experiments on mineral cytogenesis. The same year he gave a discourse at the university of Lyons on "The Creation of Living Beings," which has been published by A. Storck of Lyons.
One of the most active of the modern morphogenists is Professor Herrera of Mexico, whose work is illustrated in the Atlas de Plasmogenie by Dr. Jules Félix of Brussels, one of the most enthusiastic disciples of the new science. There is a résumé of Herrera's work in the Memoirs of the Societé Alzate, Mexico.
A bibliography of the works which have appeared on this subject may be found in the book of Professor Rhumbler of Göttingen, Aus dem Lückengebiete zwischen Organischer und Anorganischer Materie, 1906.
In 1907, Dr. Luiz Razetti of Carracas published a magnificent study of the subject under the title Que es la vida.
In 1907, Dr. Martin Kuckuck of St. Petersburg repeated and extended the experiments of R. Dubois, and published his results under the title Archigonia, Generatio Spontanea, Leipzig, Ambrosius Barth.
Butler Burke of Cambridge has also made a series of experiments with radium and barium salts analogous to those of Dubois.
In 1909, Albert and Alexandre Mary of Beauvais published
an interesting study of this question under the title Études expérimentales sur la génération primitive, published by Jules Rousset.