THE LIVING SUBSTANCE AND 

 ITS VITAL PROPERTIES 



INTRODUCTION". 



Principally since Max Schultze's investigations Protoplasm has come 

 to be generally recognized as the veritable living substance out of which 

 organic beings are formed, as the specific chemical substance, which is 

 the bearer of the vital properties, and which observably displa3's the 

 same. 



Realizing that, without a scientific insight into the process or processes 

 that constitute the life or vitality of protoplasm, biology lacks a solid 

 foundation, the present writer has devoted a number of years exclusively 

 to the study Qi..the vital properties _pf_ the living substance cojnpo-ing 

 elementary forms of life. For we have here protoplasmic beings, mor- 

 phological lY all but ho mogeneous, which, nevertheless, move, react on 

 stimulation, assimilate, grow and multiply. And these activities con- 

 stitute admittedly the fundamental vital properties of all living beings, 

 which are likewise essentially of protoplasmic consistency. By what 

 means, then, is the living substance empowered to perform these sundry 

 activities which constitute its vitality? Obviously, this is the question 

 of questions underlying the science of life. 



It has been shown that, without an explanation of assimilation and 

 growth, ontogenetic theories lack a sound foundation, and must con- 

 sequently miscarry. They necessarily fail to give a valid scientific inter- 

 pretation of the ontogenetic phenomena which lead to the reproduction 

 of the adult organism. For they use, unexplained, for basis of their in- 

 terpretation that which is to be explained; namely, the vital process q| 

 ontogenetic evolution, only relegated here to the hyjwthetical vital units, 

 which th^ the assumed life-bearers. And this they do, either by making 

 these units spontaneously arise in some mysterious manner, or by 

 making them multiply by self-division. And all this clearly involves 

 the entire mystery of reproduction, for the explanation of which these 

 units were expressly invented. 



The problem of ontogeny has. therefore, to be attacked from a dif- 

 ^c / ferent standpoint. The original vital properties that underl/ onto- 

 genetic evolution have first to be scientifically explained. ^ 

 / In the realm of Protozoa, looked upon as unicellular beings, we have 

 at our disposal for research a vast array of diversified, and yet most 

 simple forms of life. As these diverse protoplasmic individuals all 

 display the fundamental vital activities, by means of which they prove 

 to be alive, it is evident that if that which constitutes life in jroneral 



