THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ARMSTKONG, 535 



membrane, permitting of exchanges b}' diffusion between the colloid 

 solution constituting the protoplasm and the circumambient me- 

 dium in which it lives. Other similar films or membranes occur in 

 the interior of protoplasm." 



One thing only is certain — that protoplasm can not be a solution 

 or anytliing approaching to a solution in character; diverse struc- 

 ture it must have, structure of infinite deUcacy and complexity. 



Judging from liis reference to the simpHcity of nuclear material, 

 it would seem that Prof. SchJifer is prepared to regard protoplasm 

 as by no means very complex. But it is inconceivable that the 

 germ plasm, carrjang witliin itself as it apparently does all the form- 

 ative elements of the complete organism, should be simple in struc- 

 ture. It must contain a complete series of interconnected templates 

 from which growth can proceed. I have elsewhere stated that pro- 

 toplasm may be pictured as made up of a large number of curls, like 

 a judge's wig, all in communication through some center, connected 

 here and there perhaps also by lateral bonds of union. If such a 

 point of view be accepted, it is possible to account for the occur- 

 rence, in sonic sections, of the complex interchanges wdiich involve 

 work being done upon the substances there brought into interaction, 

 the necessary energy being drawn from some other part of the com- 

 plex wheie the interchanges involve a development of energy. 

 (Winnipeg address.) 



My metaphorical yvig as a whole may be taken as representing the 

 racial type — the curls as corresponding to separate characters. 



I can imagine so complex a structure being formed by a series of 

 fortuitous accidents in course of time, but taking into account the 

 extraordinary fixity of natural t\"{3es, so well expressed in Tennyson's 

 fines— 



So careful of the type she seems, 

 So careless of the single life, 



it seems to me improbable that a fike series of accidents should 

 recur. It is on grounds such as these that I can not accord my 

 sympathy to statements such as Dr. Bastian has made and that 

 I can not accept the suggestion put forward by Prof. Schafer that 

 fife conceivably is arising de novo at the present day, let alone that 

 it is the easy process suggested so fight-heartedly by Prof. Moore. 

 Where are the materials ? Can we say that they exist anywhere ? 



It is useless for biologists to five in a higher empyrean of their own 

 and to disregard the minuter details wliich chemical study alone can 

 unravel; they will never be able to solve the complex problems of 

 fife or even to grasp their significance unless they pay more atten- 

 tion to the ways in which building stones are shaped and mortar 

 made and in which edifices are gradually reared from such materials. 



