II. 



GENERAL PROPERTIES OF LIVING MATTER.^ 



LIVING-, or organized, matter is the substance which builds 

 up plants as well as animals the simplest infusorium as 

 well as the most highly developed mammal. 



Chemistry. The question what living matter really is, cannot 

 yet be answered from a chemical stand-point, and there is reason 

 to doubt whether it ever will be settled, inasmuch as it is impos- 

 sible to obtain pure living matter in a quantity sufficient for 

 chemical analysis. As every substance, also, the living matter 

 must necessarily be composed of minute particles, which can 

 never be seen, even with the highest magnifying powers, i. e., the 

 simplest units, the so-called molecules, which admit of no further 

 division. After Elsberg's at present almost generally adopted 

 designation, we shall term the molecules of the living matter 

 " plastidules." Molecules, again, are composed of simple ele- 

 mentary atoms, the quantity and nature of which give the 

 essential character to every substance. While the molecules of 

 inorganic bodies are formed by relatively few atoms, we know 

 that the plastidules are much more complicated in their atomistic 

 construction. Every plastidule is constituted by at least five 

 elements, namely: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and 

 sulphur. The nature of the union of these elements is a very 

 complicated one in every plastidule, but not as yet elucidated. 

 We generally call the organic substances simply proteinates, or 



* "The Cell Doctrine in the Light of Recent Investigations, " New York 

 Medical Journal, IS 77. 



