214 Transactions of the Society. 



regards direction, and in the other for movements which may 

 occur in any direction whatever. Dr. Allman agrees with those 

 who assert that contractihty is a propertij of protoplasm just as 

 attraction is a property of the magnet. But here evidently is a 

 radical confusion of various properties, for the " properties " referred 

 to in the two cases are so distinct in their very nature as not to 

 be comparable with one another. Who will point out the analogy 

 said to exist between contractility and attraction, or between 

 things so diverse as protoplasm and steel ? You can demagnetize 

 and remagnetize the same piece of steel. But the cosmic dust has 

 not yet been evolved out of which the material philosopher is to 

 be constructed who will restore to the same piece of matter its 

 ''irritability" after its death. 



As the phenomena of living things as generally known and 

 understood appear to be so very difi'erent from anything observed 

 in connection with non-living matter, it is incumbent upon those 

 who see or say that they discover an analogy between living and 

 non-living, to clearly point out the precise facts which according 

 to them establish the analogy. It is not just either to science or 

 to the public or to those who differ from them to repeat over and 

 over again that analogies exist between living things and things 

 that do not live, if the precise points of analogy cannot be pointed 

 out. It is obvious that people generally cannot investigate for 

 themselves the several minute points which may establish a 

 scientific proposition. The public must take much upon trust, 

 and are apt to infer that if a man holding a recognized scientific 

 position asserts that an animal is a machine, and that all its 

 actions are mechanical, he must have very good reasons for laying 

 before them a proposition which seems to be so preposterous that 

 no one would venture to propound it unless he had actually proved 

 it to be true. So, unlearned persons having much faith go their 

 ways, and announce to their friends and neighbours that they, as 

 well as all other animals, are machines. Their own conviction 

 that all machines are made in pieces which are afterwards put 

 together, and that no animal is so made, does not disturb their 

 faith. Authority has spoken. They must believe and not inquire, 

 accept upon trust, but not criticize. 



The supposed " Structure" of Living Matter. 



The investigation of what may be termed the minute anatomy 

 of non-living matter has been carried to a point far beyond the 

 powers of the IMicroscope, I may say immeasurably beyond, but 

 with what result as regards the nature of the changes occurring in 

 living matter? Instead of confirming the doctrines now forced 

 upon us with such pertinacity, every discovery connected with the 

 forces and properties of matter and the behaviour and arrangement 



