122 Protoplasm. 



that protoplasm " breaks up " (as Professor 

 Huxley says it does) T into carbonic acid, water, 

 and ammonia, any more than it is true that 

 iron, when exposed to the action of oxygen, 

 " breaks up " into oxide of iron. A compound 

 body can break up only into its constituent 

 parts ; and these are not the constituent parts 

 of protoplasm. " To convert protoplasm into 

 these three compounds requires an amount of 

 oxygen nearly double the weight of the original 

 mass of protoplasm ; speaking approximately, 

 every 100 Ibs. of protoplasm would require 170 

 Ibs. of oxygen." 



2. " Under certain conditions," says Professor 

 Huxley, 2 whereas, in point of fact, under no 

 possible "conditions" can carbonic acid, water, 

 and ammonia, when brought together, " give rise 

 to the still more complex body protoplasm." 

 " Not even on paper can any multiple, or any 

 combination whatever of these substances, be 



1 " The matter of life . . . breaks up ... into car- 

 bonic acid, water, and ammonia, which certainly possess 

 no properties but those of ordinary matter." (Professor 

 Huxley, in The Fortnightly Review, February, 1869.) 



* " But when they [the " lifeless compounds " carbonic 

 acid, water, and ammonia] are brought together, under 

 certain conditions, they give rise to the still more com- 

 plex body protoplasm, and this protoplasm exhibits the 

 phenomena of life." (Ibid.) 



