OF A LIVING SPHERULE. 109 



consist beyond another part, and of causing the rest to 

 follow; as if each part willed to move and did so, or 

 moved in immediate response to mandates operating upon 

 it from a distance, governed by some undiscovered, and at 

 present unimagined laws, creatures which multiply by sepa- 

 rating into two or more parts without loss of substance, or 

 capacity, or power. It would seem that each part pos- 

 sessed equal powers with the whole, for the smallest particle 

 detached may soon grow into a body like the original mass 

 in every respect ; and the process may be repeated infinitely 

 without any loss or diminution in capacity or power. It 

 may be asked if there is anything approaching this oc- 

 curring within the range of physics or chemistry. 



Of a Living Spherule. Let us imagine we could 

 look into the ultimate particles of the living, active, 

 moving matter, and consider what we should probably 

 discern. I think we should see spherules of extreme 

 minuteness, each composed of still smaller spherules, 

 and these of spherules infinitely minute. Such spherules 

 have upon their surface a small quantity of matter differ- 

 ing in properties from that in the interior, but so soft 

 and diffluent that the particles may come into very close 

 proximity. In each little spherule the matter is in active 

 movement, and new minute spherules are being formed in 

 its central part, and these are making their way outwards 

 so as to give place for the formation of new ones, which 

 are continually appearing in the centre of every one of 

 the living particles. The rate of growth of the entire 

 mass varies with the rate at which the new particles are 

 evolved in the centre. 



