" He discovered that if he mixed potassium cyanide with
ammonium sulfate he got urea, a biomolecule. According to vitalism that
should have been impossible; only biological systems could create urea."
And that is a good story, one most of us learned very early on in our
science training. (I seem to recall we used the word "organic" rather
than "biomolecule, but no matter). Urea, of course, is no more "living"
than the rocks in my driveway! (I almost said my head).
"With that one experiment alone, vitalism lost its grip on
biochemistry..."
I seem to recall other, similar, experiments around the same time, but
perhaps I'm not remembering rightly. I always had trouble with chemistry;
I went into physics because it was not so "messy." < G >
"In fact, Wohler's experiment is itself an abiogenetic event -- even by
Burgy's standards. It involves making "living matter" (urea) from
"non-living matter" (potassium cyanide and ammonium sulfate) using a
non-biological method (organic synthesis)."
Since I would not agree that urea is living matter, not in any
substantive meaning of the word, I have to modify the above somewhat.
What I'd agree to is a statement that said " Wohler's experiment is
itself a possible abiogenetic event, in that it is possible the reaction
and end product involved might be part of a yet-to-be-discovered
abiogenesis(2) process."
Burgy
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