PROPERTIES OF PROTOPLASM. 101 



converted into the new tissue in the form of protoplasm at 

 all ; and I must remark that sheep cannot be transubstan- 

 tiated into man. even by " subtle influences," nor can dead 

 protoplasm be converted into living protoplasm, or a dead 

 sheep into a living man. And what is gained by calling the 

 matter of dead roast mutton and that of a living growing 

 sheep by the same name ? If the last is the physical basis 

 of life one does not see how the first can be so too, unless 

 roast mutton and living sheep are identical. 



It is significant that Huxley himself, some sixteen years 

 ago, drew a distinction between living and non-living matter, 

 which he now, without any explanation, utterly ignores. 

 He remarked that the stone, the gas, the crystal, had an 

 inertia, and tended to remain as they were unless some ex- 

 ternal influence affected them ; but that living things were 

 characterized by the very opposite tendencies. He referred 

 also to " the faculty of pursuing their own course " and the 

 "inherent law of change in living beings." In 1853, the 

 same authority actually found fault with those who at- 

 tempted to reduce life to " mere attractions and repulsions," 

 and "considered physiology simply as a complex branch of 

 mere physics." He also remarked that " vitality is a pro- 

 perty inherent in certain kinds of matter." 



" Properties " of Matter. Here are some specimens of 

 the dogmatic assertions which have been advanced, in place 

 of facts and arguments, in favour of the physico-chemical 

 doctrines applied to protoplasm and the physical basis of 

 life. It has been asserted that the difference between a 

 crystal of calcspar and amorphous carbonate of lime corre- 

 sponds to the difference between living matter and the 

 matter which results from its death. Just as by chemical 



