102 ( 3 o ) 



that, from the very earliest moment even literally ab 

 02)o brain-cells only generate brain-cells, bone-cells 

 bone-cells, and so on. 



These considerations on function all concern faculty 

 or power ; but we have to notice now that the charac- 

 teristic and fundamental form of power is to Mr. Huxley 

 contractility. He even quotes Goethe in proof of con- 

 tractility being the main power or faculty of Man ! 

 Nevertheless it is to be said at once that, while there 

 are differences in what protoplasm is contractile, all 

 protoplasm is not contractile, nor dependent on contrac- 

 tility for its functions. In the former respect, for exam- 

 ple, muscle, while it is the contractile tissue special, is 

 also to Mr. Huxley protoplasm ; yet Strieker asserts 

 the inner construction of the contractile substance, of 

 which muscle-fibre virtually consists, to be essentially 

 different from contractile protoplasm. Here, then, we 

 have the contractile substance proper " essentially differ- 

 ent" from the contractile source proper. In the latter 

 respect, again, we shall not call in the z/contractible 

 substances which Mr. Huxley, himself denominates 

 protoplasm bread, namely, roast mutton, and boiled 

 lobster ; but we may ask where even in the case of a 

 living body is the contractility of white of egg ? In 

 this reference, too, we may remark that Kiihne, who di- 

 vides the protoplasm of the epidermis into three clas- 

 ses, has been unable to distinguish contractility in his 

 own third class. Lastly, where, in relation to the pro- 

 toplasm of the nervous system, is there evidence of its 

 contractility ? Has any one pretended that thought is 

 but the contraction of the brain ; or is it by contraction 

 that the very nerves operate contraction the nerves 

 that supply muscles, namely ? Mr. Huxley himself, in 



