3 oo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



newed, rebuilt from the debris of this same stream, and life has again 

 flooded the continents, but its origin is older than they. 



But now that we have before us such a fine large stream, may we 

 not make further investigation, may we not know its mystery, the 

 hiding-place of its power? We touch the cell with our needles, open 

 its wall to make minuter inspection ; but in an instant the charm 

 is broken, the mystic river forgets to flow, the tiny particles settle 

 into unbroken peace. 



kt The parent fountains sink away 

 And close their crystal veins ; 

 And where the glittering current flowed, 

 The dust alone remains." 



We are permitted to look in and see how the work of life goes on, 

 but we can as yet go no further. We may explain. We may say it 

 is all the result of chemical forces, and doubtless chemical forces are 

 working there ; but such explanation demands an explanation. Does 

 chemical action renew itself ? Chemical action is one thing, chemical 

 action perpetuated and controlled by life is quite another. We may 

 say, life is the property of protoplasm, or we may reverse the state- 

 ment and say that protoplasm is that form of matter which manifests 

 the phenomena of life, but that is as far as we can go. The streamlet 

 hemmed by the narrow walls of the cell of any plant is to us a bound- 

 ary. On one side the line, peace unbroken, eternal fixity, rest, of a 

 world whose chemical forces acted once and for ever ; on the other, the 

 vast procession of life begins, rises before us, spreads away in variety, 

 activity, in beauty, in wonderfulness, incomprehensible. 



-*- 



THE JEWS IE EUKOPE.* 



By Dr. J. YON DOLLINGEE. 



II. 



A GLANCE at the changing fortunes of the Jews in France, Eng- 

 land, and Spain, brings clearly to light how their condition was 

 influenced by the hierarchy. In England as in Germany, the Jews were 

 the special property of the king, and were in part fostered as a valu- 

 able and profitable possession, and provided with privileges, and in 

 part, particularly under King John and Henry III, made the object of 

 merciless extortion. They enjoyed, indeed, also the royal protection, 

 which, however, in times of sudden attack by the populace, came al- 

 most always too late, and only sharpened the popular hatred to which 



* Anniversary Address before the Academy of Sciences at Munich, delivered July 

 25, 1881. Translated by Mr. W. M. Salter. 



