14 Life and Immortality. 



be very necessary, and that is that the living body should be 

 composed of a certain material. This material, which forms 

 the essential and fundamental parts of everything living, 

 whether vegetable or animal, is technically called proto- 

 plasm. Other substances than it are often found in living 

 bodies, but it is in protoplasm only that vitality appears to 

 be inherent. 



But whether it is the same in plants as in animals is a 

 matter of opinion. One thing, however, seems reasonably 

 certain, and that is that it is the medium or vehicle 

 through which vital force is made manifest. Used in its 

 general sense, protoplasm is chemically related in its 

 nature to albumen, and generally has the character of a 

 jelly-like, semi-fluid, transparent material, which, in itself, 

 exhibits no definiteness of structure. When heated to a 

 certain temperature it coagulates, just as the white of an 

 egg does when boiled. Living protoplasm has the power of 

 movement, of increasing in size or of maintaining its exist- 

 ence by the assimilation of fresh and foreign materials, and 

 of detaching portions of itself which may subsequently 

 develop into fresh masses. Though protoplasm be present 

 in the ova of animals and the seeds of plants, yet there is no 

 external and visible manifestation of life. There is in them 

 what is called a dormant vitality, which may remain for a 

 long time unchanged, until altered external circumstances 

 cause the organism to pass into a state of active life. 



Generally, certain external conditions must be present 

 before any external vital phenomena can be manifested. The 

 presence of atmospheric air, or rather of free oxygen, is in 

 an ordinary way essential to active life. Life, that is its 

 higher manifestations, is only possible between certain 

 ranges of temperature, varying from near the freezing 

 point to about 120 Fahrenheit. As water is a necessary 

 constituent of protoplasm in its living state, so it becomes an 

 absolutely essential requisite to the carrying on of vital 

 processes of all kinds, for the mere drying of an animal or 



