90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



I >endy once more : — " The fact that one organism will select silica while 

 another selects carbonate of lime from the same sample of sea-water and 

 for the same purpose, must correspond to some deep-seated difference in 

 the protoplasm of which they are composed, and illustrates very well 

 the diverse potentialities of this remarkable substance." * One may 

 carry this further by a reference to the fact that, again, in the same 

 sample of sea-water, organisms whose protoplasmic bodies are absolutely 

 indistinguishable by the methods hitherto at our disposal have been 

 shown to secrete for the construction of their skeletons the relatively 

 rare substance sulphate of strontium. f As long ago as 1858 Messrs. 

 Claparede and Lachmann published the following remarkable state- 

 ment : " The animal which secretes the calcareous test of a Polystomella 

 cannot be merely a mass of sarcode. The very existence of these com- 

 plicated tests teaches us that, seeing that we can recognize nothing in 

 the nature of organization in the soft parts of the animal, we must only 

 blame our methods and our means of observation. Where would be the 

 microscopic anatomy of the central nervous system without chromic 

 acid ? The protoplasm of the Rhizopods has not yet found its chromic 

 acid." % I do not think it is too much to suggest that Mr. Barnard is 

 on the high road to the discovery of "the chromic acid of therhizopodal 

 protoplasm." 



One word in conclusion. It may be said that I have laid too great 

 a stress on the branch of this enquiry relating especially to the Foram- 

 inifera. It may be said in reply that the naked amoeboid forms are 

 more conveniently organized for the purpose of the enquiry, and that 

 such forms as Proteomi/xa and Myxotheca would be easier of manipula- 

 tion, but I would answer that, rightly or wrongly, Mr. Earland and I 

 have founded upon evidence which we have laid before the Zoological 

 Society, and which will be published in the Proceedings of that Society, 

 the opinion that the protoplasm of the Foraminifera shows by its 

 function and behaviour a higher organization and higher potentialities 

 than that of any other group of the Protozoa. Professor Mas Verworn 

 has rightly observed that the unicellular organisms seem to have been 

 created by nature for the physiologists, for, besides their great capacity 

 for resistance, of all living things they have the invaluable advantage 

 of standing nearest to the first and simplest forms of life.§ I see no 

 reason why Mr. Barnard, by the combined use of the methods which he 

 has described and of spectrum analysis, should not one day identify that 

 mysterious unknown constituent— that Aristotelian ivTeX^a — f or which 

 Sir Ray Lankester has suggested the term " Plasmogen." 



I esteem it a great privilege to have been present this evening, and 

 I make bold to say that in years to come there are many of us present 

 to-night who will be proud to be able to say that they listened to 

 Mr. Barnard on this occasion. 



Mr. Julius Rheinberg said that, like the Chairman, he ventured to 



* A. Dendy, " Outlines of Evolutionary Biology," 1912, p. 26. 

 t 0. Butschli, 1906, Zool. Ariz. Leipzig, xxx., p. 784. 



: E. Claparede and K. J. F. Lachman, Mem. Inst. Nat. Genevois, 1858, vi., 

 p. 422. 



§ G. N. Calkins, " The Protozoa," London, 1901, p. 2. 



