168 PROTOPLASM 



We can only hope that some few of these speculations are, in a 

 small measure, true. That surface forces are everywhere present 

 in living matter, from the minute but multitudinous particles 

 within protoplasm to the surface of the organism as a whole, 

 there can be no doubt, but we are still almost wholly ignorant of 

 the part that they play in vital phenomena. Physical and 

 chemical laws are applicable to protoplasm, but the latter system 

 involves infinitely more variables than the systems for which 

 the laws were stated. It is the task of the biologist to ascertain 

 how far the laws are applicable. 



