THE COLLOIDAL STATE. 59 



tides of protoplasm antagonistic chemical reactions, such 

 as oxidation and reduction, hydration and loss of water, 

 condensation, polymerization, synthesis, and their oppo- 

 sites, or, generally speaking, as HERING puts it, assimila- 

 tion and dissimilation, are able to occur through and 

 beside each other, 



In a suggestive lecture on the chemical organization 

 of the cell, one of the greatest of present-day biochemical 

 investigators has thrown much light on this important 

 problem and has assumed for its solution the existence 

 of a finely chambered structure in colloids and the im- 

 permeability of the colloidal walls.* Just as the chemist 

 allows different chemical reactions to take place in different 

 vessels, the cell is believed to utilize the different chambers 

 of its honeycomb structure and, with the help of the 

 colloidal ferments, the number and knowledge of which 

 is daily growing, allow the necessary reactions to go on 

 independently of each other. 



As the considerations outlined above have shown that 

 we lack at present any adequate foundation for believing 

 that living matter has a honeycomb structure, the ques- 

 tion arises whether it is possible for antagonistic chemical 

 reactions to take place in exceedingly small spaces with- 

 out the help of any structure. An analysis of such 

 antagonistic reactions brings with it, I believe, their 

 satisfactory explanation, based upon numerous facts and 

 teachings of physical chemistry. 



* HOFMEISTER (Naturw. Rundschau, 1901, XVI, p. 581) supports the 

 hypothesis of a finely chambered structure in protoplasm upon chemical 

 grounds which need not be discussed here. We have first to settle 

 the question whether antagonistic reactions can at all take place in a 

 homogeneous substrate. 



