304 VITAL CHANGES NECESSARY TO 



At every period of life in every part of the body separated 

 from one another by a distance little more than the -roVo" f 

 an inch, are little masses of living matter which are con- 

 tinually absorbing nutrient materials, and undergoing con- 

 version into structure. Towards each of these bioplasts, 

 which, as development advances, become embedded in 

 tissue, currents never cease to flow as long as life lasts. 

 Matter is changed by them, and force converted. In the 

 nutrient fluids of the body, in the blood, in the lymph and 

 chyle, bioplasts also live and grow and multiply, converting 

 and forming without cessation during the whole period of 

 existence. 



Vital changes it has been proved are continually proceed- 

 ing in every one of the millions and millions of bioplasts in 

 every part of the body. These vital changes are as necessary 

 to life as they are to development. That particle of matter 

 in which these changes cease but for an instant, dies. It is 

 the question of the cause of the changes in these bioplasts 

 which many of us so long to see determined. The pheno- 

 mena of the living particles are so remarkable and the effects 

 observed so unlike any of the known consequences of the 

 operation of any known forces upon any form of matter, 

 that we cannot feel satisfied with the assertion that they are 

 physical. It is not, indeed, that the matter seems to pre- 

 sent any special chemical or other material properties that 

 would in any way account for the result, but rather it seems 

 for a time to be under the influence of some remarkable 

 forces or powers which temporarily affect the molecules in 

 a way we cannot explain. 



No relation can be established between the chemical or 

 other material properties of different kinds of living matter 



