Scientific Sophisms. 143 



12. As of the bricks, then, so of the clay : it 

 is not identical, and it is not convertible. But 

 Evolution dies hard, and Mr. Huxley in the 

 last resort falls back upon protoplasm "variously 

 modified" But where are we to begin, not to 

 have modified protoplasm? Mr. Huxley begins 

 with the sting of the nettle, but even there the 

 protoplasm is already modified ; and we have 

 the authority of Rindfleisch for asserting that 

 "in every different tissue we must look for 

 a different initial term of the productive 

 series." 



Besides : there are in protoplasm generic or 

 specific differences ; differences not merely of 

 degree, but of kind. Some of these are indicated 

 by Mr. Huxley himself, when he tells us that 

 plants alone are capable of assimilating inorganic 

 matter ; while animals assimilate organic matter 

 only. Others must be admitted " for the over- 

 whelming reason that an infinitude of various 







kinds exist in it, each of which is self-productive 

 and uninterchangeable with the rest." Brain- 

 protoplasm is not bone-protoplasm, nor the 

 protoplasm of the fungus the protoplasm of 

 man. " If the cornea of the eye and the enamel 

 of the teeth are alike but modified protoplasm, 

 we must be pardoned for thinking more of the 

 adjective than of the substantive. Our wonder 



