6o4 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



still, while Jodin proved that this is also true when respira- 

 tion has been completely inhibited for years. 



Are, then, dormant seeds aliv^e, or are they dead ? — The 

 most perfect definition of life is probably that of Herbert 

 Spencer,^ who defines it as "the continuous adjustment 

 of internal relations to external relations ". Now dormant 

 seeds may be subjected to most varied environment, the 

 factors — temperature, hydration, time, etc. — undergoing 

 enormous variation, and yet remain absolutely inert ; there 

 is no evidence of adjustment of internal relations to ex- 

 ternal relations. If this definition be accepted no life, 

 whether latent or weakened {i-alentie), can be attributed 

 to dormant seeds. It is possible however that some may 

 hold that, in the light of present knowledge, this definition 

 becomes untenable, and that an extension is necessary. 

 This amendment is not however practicable ; for if Spencer's 

 definition were so modified or extended as to comprehend 

 the state of dormant seeds, all definitions of life must become 

 self-contradictory, and consequently all definitions of pi'O- 

 toplasm, which have for the most part but the one postulate 

 of life in common, would then in addition become self- 

 contradictory, for it would be impossible to combine in a 

 definition the qualities of the cell-contents of a resting 

 seed, on the one hand, with those of protoplasts on the 

 other, since they are perfectly antithetic. It must be hence 

 o^ranted that dormant seeds are not alive. 



Are they then dead? — Weismann's^ definition of 

 death, '' der unwiderbringliche Verlust des Lebens eines 

 Organismus," is excellent, provided that the nature of life 

 is fixed. By substituting Spencer's definition of life for 

 the word life, two harmonising definitions of life and death 

 are obtained, which are probably more perfect than any 

 others. Now it is a truism that many dormant seeds 

 germinate when placed in suitable conditions, — hence, these 

 are not dead. 



What state then is this, that is neither life nor death ? — 

 As a matter of fact life in all dormant seeds is completely 



1 Sytithetic Philosophy ; Principks of Biology, London, 1884, vol. i., p. 80. 



2 Aufsiitze liber Vererbung, Jena, 1892. Ueb. Leben imd Tod., p. 131. 



