M ONER A, AND THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 563 



nations, and how in one department after another we are being out- 

 stripped by the results of better i. e., more scientific knowledge, the 

 poor pittance of " elementary knowledge " asked for in Sir John Lub- 

 bock's bill is refused by a minister whose own " education " leaves 

 much to be desired. This state of things cannot long continue, and 

 with such advocates for the children as the Times and Mr. Forster, we 

 may hope that next time Sir John Lubbock brings forward his bill it 

 will meet with a happier fate. Nature. 



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MONERA, AND THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 



By EDMUND MONTGOMERY, M. D. 

 II. THE PHYSICAL PHASE OF THE PROBLEM. 



LET us suppose that we have before us a living spherule of the uni- 

 form viscid material of so-called protoplasm. It is seen slowly to 

 push forth, at some part of its circumference, a conical process ; and, 

 after a while, it is seen still more slowly to retract the same. We are 

 here brought face to face with the initial and fundamental manifesta- 

 tion of one of the chief properties of life. For, what we are observing 

 is living motion, incipient motility. How is it accomplished ? What 

 changes in the protoplasm have given rise to this duplex movement, 

 first of protrusion, and then of recoil, on the part of a peculiar portion 

 of the living material ? 



When the phenomenon is closely watched in different kinds of 

 monera, it becomes evident that the conical projections are formed by 

 a portion of the protoplasm, in which the bonds of cohesion are in 

 some way being loosened ; for the matter flows out into space with a 

 certain pushing force it liquefies and expands. This view is quickly 

 corroborated by the unmistakable recontraction and resolidification 

 of the material forming the projections, when retrogression is taking 

 place. It is plain, then, that alternate expansion and contraction are 

 the visible elements of motility. 



Strange to say, biologists have as yet only realized the importance 

 of the latter, less fundamental part of this twofold process. They 

 have been so struck with the peculiar contractile power, with the seem- 

 ingly sensitive shrinking exhibited by the living substance, that they 

 have deemed it the most salient and characteristic manifestation of 

 life. To convey this notion, they generally give to the protoplasm the 

 name of contractile substance. 



Now, " contractility " may be a very expressive term for the prop- 

 erty by which the protoplasm is enabled to accomplish the second 

 part, the retrograde half of motility ; but, even thus restricted, it in- 



