LIVING MATTER IN "PROTOPLASM." 



netting Filaments, are the Living, or Contractile Matter Proper* 

 This solid matter is suspended in a non-living, not contractile 

 liquid. In other words, the contractile matter in mesh-spaces con- 

 tains wid, as a shell, incloses, a non-contractile fluid matter, which 

 latter cannot be simple water, as the 

 phenomena of diffusion prove. 



Starting from the condition of rest 

 of the protoplasma as it appears in a 

 colorless blood-corpuscle which tias 

 just become dead, we may consider 

 every granule as a central portion of 

 contractile matter, which connects 

 with that of its neighbors by means 

 of narrow bridges. (See Fig. 5.) 



Contraction consists in an in- 

 crease of the size of the granules, 

 and their approachment to each 

 other. Hereby the filaments are ob- 

 viously shortened for the benefit of the granules. (See Fig. 6.) 



Tetanus I will term the condition which I observed in 

 amoebge brought in contact with glycerine. It is caused by an 

 intense contraction of the living matter. (See Fig. 7.) 



FIG. 5. DIAGRAM OF REST. 



FIG. 6. DIAGRAM OF 

 CONTRACTION. 



FIG. 7. DIAGRAM OF 

 TETANUS. 



Extension, on the contrary, consists in a decrease of the size 

 of the granules until they almost disappear, with their simul- 

 taneous moving apart, and an elongation of the filaments at their 

 expense to apparent fading of the structure, as in the hyaline 

 flaps. (See Fig. 8.) 



