26 W. H. G1LBURT ON THE STRUCTURE AND 



we know, stated most emphatically that all living matter is struc- 

 tureless. He says, to quote one of his most recent utterances, 

 " Living matter has no definite structure whatever ; in fact, 

 its particles, and very probably their constituent atoms, are in a 

 state of very active movement, which renders structure and fixity of 

 arrangement impossible, this active movement being an essen- 

 tial condition of the living state, which latter ceases when the 

 movement comes to a standstill. According to this view, the idea 

 of structure as belonging to living matter is inconceivable." Now, 

 given the molecular structure of protoplasm, which Dr. Beale ap- 

 pears to agree with, the active movement would also be included. 

 According to the present doctrine of the constitution of matter, its 

 primary element is an atom. That the atoms of the various ele- 

 mentary substances combining in certain definite proportions form 

 molecules, which possess certain definite qualities ; that the 

 molecules as such, and the atoms composing them, are alike in 

 active motion ; that the chief difference between the three states of 

 matter, solid, liquid, and gaseous, consists in the amount of move- 

 ment of which the molecules are capable ; and it would appear that 

 only in the two latter are the conditions such that movements of 

 sufficient freedom or amplitude could take place so as to preclude 

 the possibility of structure. 



It has been shown already that protoplasm is not a fluid, and 

 that its density is dependent upon the quantity of water present, 

 the proportion of which varies within wide limits, from a con- 

 dition in which it appears to preponderate to one in which it is 

 nearly absent, and the protoplasm stiff and even brittle, as, for 

 example, in the embryo of some seeds. Here we have a condition 

 in which the protoplasm is practically a solid, and yet it is not 

 only alive, but is capable of preserving its dormant vitality, often 

 for a long period, and only requires suitable conditions as to heat 

 and moisture, for physiological action to be resumed and growth to 

 take place. 



From this it would appear that while water is undoubtedly neces- 

 sary for the purposes of nutrition and the other operations for con- 

 tinued life and development, we may fairly assume that at least it 

 is not necessary for the existence of protoplasm that water should 

 be present in such excess as we sometimes see it ; and seeing that 

 even in vegetable ceils, where growth and development are most 

 active, the protoplasm certainly is not a fluid either in appearance 



