40 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



as a "hydrous ammonium sulphate," that is to say, it 

 contains water, ammonium and sulphur in its composi- 

 tion but not carbon. However, there is plenty of car- 

 bonic acid produced by volcanic action ; so with that 

 we have got all we practically want of the elements of 

 protoplasm. Thus we are better off than Haeckel ; but 

 the question is, How are we to get the right proportions 

 of these elements for building up protoplasm ? 



Mascagnite contains in one molecule NoHj^^O^S. But 

 protoplasm requires them to be in much higher propor- 

 tions. The composition of albumen, which is a near 

 ally of protoplasm, is said to contain C,,(,H,QQNigO.20 ; 

 while the nucleus is reported to have a still more com- 

 plicated composition. 



" The result of an analysis of the plasmodium of a 

 Slime-mould {AitJialuaii septicuni) showed 71 '6 per cent, 

 water and 28'4 per cent, solid matter. The latter was 

 composed of 30 per cent, of nitrogeneous compounds : e.g., 

 plastine, vitelline, myosine, pepsine, lecithine, guanine, 

 sarcine, xanthine and ammonia carbonate ; 41 per cent, 

 was composed of ternary compounds, including parachol- 

 sterine, resin and a yellow pigment, sugar (non-reductive), 

 various fatty acids and neutral fatty substances. The 

 remainder was composed of mineral substances, includ- 

 ing calcium combined with various acids, phosphates of 

 potassium and magnesium and chloride of sodium. . . . 

 This illustrates the extraordinary complexity of the proto- 

 plast, and the impossibility of obtaining more than an 

 approximation of its chemical composition." ' 



Protoplasm, therefore, does not seem to be quite so 

 simple a substance as Haeckel would like us to suppose ! 



It may be added that " the Slime-fungi occupy quite 



M University Text-book 0/ Botany, by D. H. Campbell, Ph.D., 1902. 



