THE ORIGIN OF BACTERIA AND OTHER MICRO-ORGANISMS 31 



and of some of the dyes. It may also be stated that the colloid state is not 

 restricted to any one group or even many groups of matter, rather it is 

 universal. Any and all substances may be converted into the colloid 

 state, including the chemical salts. In general it is however true that 

 substances with small molecules prefer the crystalloidal state or form, 

 whereas the substances consisting of large molecules prefer the colloidal ~ 

 "' statl^ Matter in the colloidal state consists of minute molecular aggre- 

 grates (not chemical combinations) varying in size from macroscopic ,that 

 is large enough to be visualized by the naked eye (at least when the light 

 rays are properly adjusted) down to aggregates which are so small that 

 they may not even be visualized by means of the ultra-miscoscope. 

 Another property of colloidal matter is the manifestation of the very 

 striking Brownian motion. In a general way colloidal particles are de- 

 cidedly opposed to chemical combinations. In fact the study of colloids 

 lies almost wholly in the realm of physics, rather than chemistry. 



The recent investigations in bio-chemistry and colloidal chemistry 

 have shown that life processes take place in colloid systems. Life, death 

 and decay, and renewed life, form one continuous kalaidoscopic colloidal 

 transformation series, in which the organic molecules, water and enzymes 

 play the leading roles. The secrets of living matter are bound up in 

 colloids. Not the coarser colloids recognizable microscopically or even 

 ultra-microscopically, but in those protein and histon colloids which 

 abound near the border line of the true (molecular) solutions. The 

 living basic substance in which all of the life processes take place, that is 

 the plasm (stroma), is a protein emulsoid in water. It is itself a dialyzing 

 substance which will take up and will allow to enter and pass the smallest 

 colloidal particles only. It is a labilely stable substance. That is, it is 

 chemically stable under certain conditions of light, temperature and en- 

 vironment. The plasmic granula which may be seen under the high power 

 of the compound microscope, or visualized under the ultra-microscope, and 

 all of the known formed cell constituents, inclusive of nuclear matter, are 

 precipitation and coagulation products of plasmic activity. The cell- 

 walls, the starch granules, crystals of calcium oxalate, etc., of plant cells, 

 represent refuse material, rejected by the living plasm. Gradually, the 

 plasm is unable to find sufficient dumping space for the refuse, the cell- 

 wall growing thicker and thicker, the cell lumen smaller and smaller, and 

 finally the plasm dies upon the heap of refuse of its own building. It is 

 true, that the starch and other plasmic rejecta may again be utilized in 

 subsequent growth processes, and the cell-wall serves as a protection 

 against the loss of moisture and also assists in colloidal filtration so essential 

 to the life of the plasm. The nucleus of the cell is nothing more nor less 

 than a series of colloidal coagulation changes, of colloid coagula tern- 



