146 Protoplasm* 



plastic substance '. of 1853 together constitute 

 his ' protoplasm ' of 1 869." * 



14. "In order to convince people that the 

 actions of living beings are not due to any 

 mysterious vitality or vital force or power, but 

 are in fact physical and chemical in their nature, 

 Professor Huxley gives to matter which is alive, 

 to matter which is dead, and to matter which is 

 completely changed by tJie process of roasting or 

 boiling, the very same name. 'Mutton con- 

 tained protoplasm of the same nature as was 

 found in every living thing.' ' As he spoke, he 

 was wasting his stock of protoplasm, but he 

 had the power of making it up again by draw- 

 ing upon the protoplasm of some other animal 

 say a sheep. (Laughter.)' The matter of sheep 

 and mutton and man and lobster and egg is 

 the same, and, according to Huxley, one may 

 be transubstantiated into the other. But how ? 

 By ' subtle influences,' and ' under sundry cir- 

 cumstances,' answers this authority. And all 

 these things alive, or dead, or dead and roasted, 

 he tells us are made of protoplasm, and he 

 affirms this protoplasm is the pJiysical basis of 



1 "Protoplasm; or Matter and Life." By Lionel S. 

 Beale, M.B.,F.R.S. Third Edition. London : Churchill, 

 1874, pp. 90, 91. 



