VITAL MOVEMENTS. 271 



nutrient fluid into its substance, and in fact all the re- 

 markable phenomena which characterise the living state of 

 matter must be referred to inherent powers manifested by 

 its particles, by virtue of which they place themselves in 

 advance of other particles of the same mass. Bioplasm 

 always tends to move towards the pabulum it is about to take 

 up and to transform. This tendency to move is one of the 

 essential attributes of living matter. The movement is 

 quite per se, but it is characteristic of every form of living 

 matter. The idea that any form of non-living matter 

 might move in this way or possess capacity for initiating 

 such movements is opposed to observation and experiment, 

 and cannot be entertained at this time. The growth of the 

 forest could not be accomplished in the absence of this 

 wonderful power of movement which overcomes the attrac- 

 tion of gravitation, any more than the changes in form of the 

 simplest living particles, the arrangement of the particles of 

 animal and vegetable tissues, the active movements of the 

 vibrio or the vibration of a cilium. All are consequences, 

 immediate or remote, of the movement of bioplasm. 



But can we not go a step further than this in our search 

 for a true cause ? Can we not gain more positive informa- 

 tion than this concerning the real nature of these familiar 

 vital movements ? It is, I admit, very unsatisfactory to 

 attribute the phenomenon to a ^Qcvfaax power of movement, or 

 to vitality, but it is more honest to do so than to insist that 

 the movement results from physical changes while we know 

 that not one of the physical or chemical changes of which 

 we have cognizance, nor any combination of them of which 

 we have any knowledge, is competent to effect changes 

 which exhibit any true analogy with the remarkable phe- 



