Il6 LIFE AND DEATH, [III. 



by a process of development, a new individual of the same 

 species once more arises. The division of the contents of 

 the cyst, viz. its multiplication, is, according to this view, of 

 secondary importance, and the essential feature in the process 

 is the rejuvenescence of the individual. This rejuvenescence 

 however is said to not only consist in the simple transforma- 

 tion of the old individual, but in its death, followed by the 

 building up anew of another individual. ' The parent or- 

 ganism and its offspring are two successive living stages of 

 the same substance — separated, and at the same time con- 

 nected, by the condition of rejuvenescence which lies between 

 them' (I.e., p. 79). An 'absolute continuity of life does not 

 exist ' ; it is only the dead organic matter which establishes 

 the connection, and the ' identity of this matter ensures 

 heredity.' 



It is certainly surprising that Gotte should identify encyst- 

 ment with a cessation of life, and we may well enquire for 

 the evidence which is believed to support such a view. The 

 only evidence lies in a certain degree of degeneration in the 

 structure of the individual, and in the cessation of the visible 

 external phenomena of life, such as feeding and moving. 

 Does Gotte really believe that it is an incorrect interpretation 

 of the facts to assume that a vita niininia continues to exist 

 in the protoplasm, after its complexity has diminished } Are 

 we compelled to invoke a m^'stical explanation of the facts, by 

 an appeal to such an indefinite principle as Gotte's reju- 

 venescence ? Would not the oxygen, dissolved in the water, 

 affect the organic substance the life of which it formerly 

 maintained, and would it not cause its decomposition, if it 

 were in reality dead ? 



I, too, hold that the division of the encysted mass is of 

 secondary importance, and that the encystment itself, without 

 the resulting multiplication, is the original and essential part 

 of the phenomenon. But it does not follow from this that 

 the encystment should be considered as a process of re- 

 juvenescence. What is there to be rejuvenated ? Certainly 

 not the substance of the animal, for nothing is added to it, and 

 it can therefore acquire no new energy ; and the forms of 

 energy which it manifests cannot be changed, since the form 

 of the matter is just the same after quitting the cyst as it was 



