LIFE AND ITS PHENOMENA 65 



homogeneous, and as undifferentiated as to parts, as is 

 a solution of starch or the albumen of an egg".^ 



" The protoplasm organises itself into cells and tissues 

 in the same sense as atoms organise themselves into 

 molecules and molecules into crystals of various sorts 

 having different properties that depend upon the kind of 

 atoms, their number and arrangement in the molecule." - 



In an appendix he somewhat corrects this utterly 

 false statement, which, by the bye, agrees with Haeckel's, 

 who also ignores the phenomena of karyokinesis in the 

 nucleus, for on p. 369 Prof. Dolbear informs us : " Histo- 

 logists find that protoplasm consists of a kind of net- 

 work of less fluid material, the interstices being filled 

 with more fluid material . . . hence if there be so-called 

 'structureless' protoplasm, it is only apparently so, because 

 the meshes are too fine to be seen." 



But this is nothing nezu, and it is a pity the author 

 had not made himself better acquainted with physiology 

 before he wrote the chapter on " Physical Life ". He 

 appears not to be aware of the phenomenon of " cell- 

 rotation " and other well-known peculiarities of proto- 

 plasm. 



When he uses the word " organised " for inorganic 

 molecules, he is totally misusing the term. It is only in 

 living beings that " organisation " takes place. It im- 

 plies a locating of molecules as a definite means for an 

 "end". 



In crystals, there is only an increase in size by super- 

 ficial accretions, with no "end" at all in view, and, of 

 course, no internal organisation. 



Like Haeckel and others. Prof Dolbear alludes to 

 the fact that chemists have succeeded in making many 



1 Op. cit., p. 280. ^ Op. cit., p. 281. 



