BY W. J. BYRAM. XI 



formic acid ; and that, just as when he succeeded in making 

 formic acid, it had that distinctive pungency and acidity which 

 characterise it in the bodies of ants, so if he succeeded in 

 making protoplasm it would ipso facto possess its salient 

 property — life. These views led to a persistent research on the 

 part of biologists for that perfectly homogeneous protoplasm in 

 which they believed, and in repeated attempts to discover the 

 composition of the molecule of protoplasm as an initial step 

 towards its artificial production, and the consequent solution of 

 the sublime problem of life. Such attempts resulted in some 

 strange misconceptions and too hasty conclusions, of which, 

 perhaps, the most remarkable was Professor Huxley's belief that 

 he had discovered the perfectly homogeneous protoplasm, for 

 which all were seeking, in a collection obtained by deep sea 

 soundings during the cruise of the exploring ship Challenger. 

 As the result of these observations, Huxley stated that the 

 bottom of the ocean was covered with a diffused mass of 

 protoplasm, so homogeneous that it did not display any cell 

 structure, and showed no trace of a nucleus or granulation. 

 Huxley called this supposed diffused protoplasm Bathybias, or 

 " deep-sea life substance." Coming from so acute an observer 

 and so high an authority, this announcement was received with 

 the keenest interest, and it was believed that the chemical 

 protoplasmic theory had won the day. But the subsequent 

 analysis of this deep-sea deposit showed it to have no connection 

 with life or protoplasm, but to be simply a mineral precipitate, 

 and Huxley, true to his principles of sincerity and candour, was 

 the first to proclaim his error. The history of science is full of 

 similar misconceptions, and, far from being a theme for regret, 

 we must recognise that they are but the result of the imagina- 

 tion, which is a salient element in the scientific method, 

 outstripping that unwearied observation and research which 

 alone can act as its corrective, and restrain it within serviceable 

 limits. But the demonstration of the error of Bathybias led 

 biologists to revise the theory and to examine the cell or 

 elementary unit with increased care and caution. There is in 

 the cell a minute oval or elongated body, which has received the 

 name of the nucleus. While the early observers looked upon 

 this body as a mere insignificant adjunct — a little piece of 

 protoplasm somewhat denser than the rest — biologists now 

 began to pay increased attention to it, and the result was that 

 nucleii were discovered in cells which had previously been 

 deemed to be devoid of them. The nucleus was then discovered 



