The Organism and its Protoplasm 143 



in the hierarchy of the sciences as that implied by the quo- 

 tation given above. Thus: "Physics in the largest sense 

 of the word is the science of unorganized matter and tlie 

 l>henoniena which it manifests. These phenomena are called 

 physical phenomena. All the other sciences which occu})y 

 themselves with matter, have to do with organized substance 

 (the biological sciences)." ^^ 



The whole-hearted recognition by physics as thus con- 

 ceived, of matter in two fundamentally different conditions, 

 these giving rise to two coequal realms of science, places no 

 obstacles in the way of biology's bringing into clear view tiie 

 significance of individuals as natural phenomena. That 

 physical chemistry can be of enormous service in the inter- 

 pretation of living beings if only it does not claim too much 

 for itself, if it recognizes physiologico-, or better bio- 

 chemistry, to be on a par with itself, we shall see to some 

 extent in later chapters. 



Experimental Evidence of the Specificity of Protoplasms 



Up to this point the burden of the facts and arguments 

 of this chapter has been in a sense negative. It has been in 

 opposition, merely, to the generalization that protoplasm 

 is one and the same thing in all organisms. Although rela- 

 tively few researches in microscopic comparative morphology 

 and embryology have been carried out with the avowed pur- 

 pose of discovering in how far each organism or group of 

 closely related organisms has its own fundamental sub- 

 stances, the few which have been made have yielded highly 

 significant results and open the gate to an alluring realm for 

 future exploration. 



(«) Greater Fusibility Between Closely Uelatcd Species, as 

 in Tissue Mixtures and Grafts 



The morphological investigations which will, })erlia])s, be 

 most crucial when carried far enough, are those on the fusi- 



