100 THE STORY OF LIFE'S MECHANISM. 



aginary. When this reign of protoplasm was at 

 its height and biologists were seeking for even 

 greater simplicity a most astounding discovery 

 was announced. The British exploring ship 

 Challenger had returned from its voyage of dis- 

 covery and collection, and its various treasures 

 were turned over to the different scientists for 

 study. The brilliant Prof. Huxley, who had first 

 formulated the mechanical theory of life, now 

 startled the biological world with the statement 

 that these collections had shown him that at the 

 bottom of the deep sea, in certain parts of the 

 world, there exists a diffused mass of living 

 undifferentiated protoplasm. So simple and un- 

 differentiated was it that it was not divided into 

 cells and contained no nucleii. It was, in short, 

 exactly the kind of primitive protoplasm which 

 the evolutionist wanted to complete his chain of 

 living structures, and the biologist wanted to 

 serve as a foundation for his mechanical theory 

 of life. If such a diffused mass of undifferentiated 

 protoplasm existed at the bottom of the sea, one 

 could hardly doubt that it was developed there 

 by some purely natural forces. The discovery 

 was a startling one, for it seemed that the actual 

 starting point of life had been reached. Huxley 

 named his substance Bathybias, and this name 

 became in a short time familiar to every one who 

 was thinking of the problems of life. But the 

 discovery was suspected from the first, because 

 it was too closely in accord with speculation, and 

 it was soon disproved. Its discoverer soon after 

 courageously announced to the world that he had 

 been entirely mistaken, and that the Bathybias, 



