THE CHAIN OF SPECIES, 463 



have discovered the half of them ; much less their interminable com- 

 binations. And yet, as to organic life in general, is it not confessed 

 that, if we could only account for the existence of the cell, of that 

 first morsel of colloid matter, we should have the key to all its mys- 

 teries ? 



Very well. What is a cell ? Or, expressed in other words, what 

 is that drop — that particle of matter, called now by that same old 

 fashion of supplying phrases when ideas fail — protoplasm ? What is 

 protoplasm ? 



For aught we' know, there may be monads or gemmules of organic 

 creatures, as conjectured by Mr. Spencer and Mr. Darwin, there may 

 be a peculiar substance endowed with life as a pro23erty, as conject- 

 ured by Mr. Huxley, there may be these atoms of organic life — the 

 bases of organizations ; and organized creatures may be definite ar- 

 rangements of these, for aught we know. But really, except as a pro- 

 visional theory, used, as we see it in the notion of Pangenesis put forth 

 by the great naturalist, merely to aid in rising to other conceptions, 

 there is very little need for such a sui^position. Especially is it to be 

 used guardedly. For, while put forth expressly in analogy to the 

 atomic theory in chemistry, which is an aid to grasp the law of defi- 

 nite proportions, it is to be feared that many will so lean upon the 

 crutch, they may never learn to walk. We know that in chemistry 

 this is true ; that many possessed of feeble powers of abstraction rest 

 in the doctrine of atoms as the final fact ; as in religion feeble minds 

 stop at the forms and images used, and fail to comprehend the Deity 

 taught and concealed thereby. 



Rightly understood, the doctrines of Protoplasm, of Gemmules, et 

 id omne genus, if they aid little, can do little harm. For, to the physi- 

 ologist, there remains the great fact that organization is life. In, 

 through, and by means of organization, or, if you prefer it, an organ- 

 ism, is matter endowed with life. So far as physiology, and there- 

 fore natural science and physics, is concerned in this matter, life does 

 not exist without organization. Now, then, what is the first, the sim- 

 plest form of organization — the primordial type of organic creatures ? 

 It is a cell. For, notice what is really meant by an organism — an 

 organized creature. It is a creature that has functions dependent upon 

 organs or parts. There is, then, in the very simplest organism already 

 a manifestation of Yon Baer's great law in biology — differentiation. 

 Without differentiation there is no organization, and without organi- 

 zation, again, no life. 



It is impossible to stop here to dwell upon the organization of a 

 cell, and the proofs of it in unicellular creatures. This has been more 

 fully treated of in some of my earlier productions. Still, a glance at 

 this question — how ? whence ? — was promised. 



See, then, this drop of colloid matter — tliis protoplasm — this cell. 

 It can scarcely be called protoplasm until there is organization ; and, if 



