1 24 Protoplasm. 



knows what an ' equivalent weight ' means ; 

 knows also that there can be no weight of 

 protoplasm ' equivalent/ chemically speaking, 

 to any amount of carbonic acid, water, and 

 ammonia, that may or can have disappeared. 

 These are simple, well-known, and understood 

 chemical facts, and need no discussion. 



4. " But granting for the moment, and for the 

 sake of argument, that these bodies disappear, 

 and that protoplasm appears, it is manifest 

 almost too manifest to require stating that there 

 is no resemblance whatever in the two processes 

 by which the results which Professor Huxley 

 considers identical are obtained. In the for- 

 mation of water, the whole of its constituent 

 parts combine to form an equal weight of the 

 compound; the case is entirely otherwise with 

 regard to protoplasm, for here the so-called 

 elements do not combine at all. On the con- 

 trary, they are uncombined or decomposed, by 

 a process and by affinities most assuredly un- 

 known in our laboratories. The carbonic acid 

 and the ammonia are certainly decomposed, and 

 whilst the carbon and nitrogen are assimilated, 

 and add to the bulk of the plant, part of the 

 oxygen is eliminated by the leaves, and part is 

 destined to the performance of various functions 

 in the economy." 



