PROTOPLASM. 



very different from those manifested by the amoeba, white 

 blood-corpuscle, etc., and is destitute of the powers which 

 characterize the matter constituting these bodies. Here 

 again we find the term protoplasm applied to different kinds 

 of matter or to matter in very different states. 



But unfortunately we have by no means exhausted the 

 confusion which has resulted with regard to protoplasm, for 

 the name has been applied also to the outer, hard, dead 

 part of epithelial cells and by implication to all correspond- 

 ing structures. 



Protoplasm the Physical Basis of Life. In order to 

 convince people that the actions of living beings are not 

 due to any mysterious vitality or vital force or power, but 

 are in fact physical and chemical in their nature, Prof. Huxley 

 gives to matter which is alive, to matter which is dead, and to 

 matter which is completely changed by roasting or boiling, 

 the very same name. The matter of sheep and mutton and 

 man and lobster and egg is the same, and, according to 

 Huxley, one may be transubstantiated into the other. But 

 how ? By " subtle influences," and " under sundry circum- 

 stances," answers this authority. And all these things alive, 

 or dead, or roasted, he tells us are made of protoplasm, and 

 this protoplasm is the physical basis of life, or the basis of 

 physical life* But can the discoverer of "subtle influences" 

 afford to sneer at the fiction of vitality ? By calling things 

 which differ from one another in many qualities by the same 

 name, Huxley seems to think he can annihilate distinctions, 

 enforce identity, and sweep away the difficulties which 

 have impeded the progress of previous philosophers in 



* The iron basis of the candle, and the basis of the iron candle are 

 expressions evidently interchangeable. 



