THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANISM 10& 



What we see, then, in protoplasm is a viscid substance 

 possessing a structure of some kind, and containing 

 specialised protoplasmic bodies in its mass (nuclei, 

 nucleoli, granules of various kinds, chlorophyll, and 

 other plastids, etc.). It may contain or exhibit 

 suspensoid or emulsoid parts or substances, or it may 

 contain truly crystalloid solutions. These phases of 

 its constituents are not fixed, but pass into each other 

 during its activity. Nothing that we know about it 

 justifies us in speaking about a " living chemical sub- 

 stance." On analysis we find that it is a mixture 

 of true chemical substances rather than a substance. 

 It is no use saying that in order to analyse it we must 

 kill it, for what we can observe in it without destroying 

 its structure or activities indicates that it is chemically 

 heterogeneous. 



This is not a textbook of general physiology, and 

 the examples of physico-chemical reactions in the 

 organism which we have selected have been quoted 

 in order to show to what extent the chemical and 

 physical methods applied by the physiologists have 

 succeeded in resolving the activities of the organism. 

 The question for our consideration is this : do these 

 results of physico-chemical analysis fully describe 

 organic functioning ? Dogmatic mechanism says 

 ' yes " without equivocation. 



Now it is clear, from even the few typical examples 

 that we have quoted, that physiological analysis shows, 

 indeed, a resolution of the activities of the organism 

 into chemical and physical reactions. How could it 

 do otherwise ? How could chemical and physical 

 methods of investigation yield anything else than 

 chemical and physical results ? The fact that these 

 methods can be applied to the study of the organism 

 with consistent results shows that their application 



