CYTOLOGY. 



141 



though both these units today are remotely 

 hypothetical, and yet more remote is their 

 oneness. Still in this way we may take the 

 speculative pleasure of viewing the primor- 

 dial bond between the dead and living worlds, 

 or perchance the central generative point 

 from which starts the grand bifurcation of 

 all Nature into organic and inorganic, which 

 mighty twins may be well supposed to have 

 had a common womb. 



From these far speculative outreaches 

 which have become indeed an integrating ele- 

 ment of today's Natural Science, we shall 

 come back to consider a few things about this 

 primal Life (Protobioticon). The first con- 

 cept which may be formulated concerning it 

 is that here lies the scene or arena of the in- 

 dividuation of Life, the transition from the 

 protoplasmic mass to the first differentiation 

 of the living individual, in whatever earliest 

 form the latter may appear. This pre-or- 

 ganic field may be conceived to stretch be- 

 tween the Inorganic and Organic, to consti- 

 tute that bridge of which so much 1ms been 

 said. To be sure, one may well ask whence 

 comes this protoplasmic mass which is here 

 taken for granted? Merely the hypothetical 

 starting-point, we may say; but meanwhile 

 the deeper question rises to the surface : What 

 is the origin of that power of living Individ- 



