146 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[August, 



never seen to endow themselves with 

 the properties of life. 



Dealt with physically, it has, as a 

 question, received masterly treatment 

 at the hands of Tyndall, and his an- 

 swer is emphatic — it is, that that 

 which is not living does not rise to 

 that which lives. 



Biologically, it has been dealt with 

 by all the workers in minute biology, 

 and their answer is, that as far down 

 as we can reach, or see, with certain- 

 ty, living things arise ultimately in 

 living products — parental germs or 

 spores — the equivalents of eggs or 

 seeds. 



" But," says the shallow reasoner, 

 " if there be no spontaneous genera- 

 tion in nature, how can we have con- 

 sistency in the great doctrine of evo- 

 lution ? That process must have been 

 a march of mighty progression from 

 the beginning until now. Evolution 

 is in danger by your facts! I answer, 

 if that be so, then I prefer the facts, 

 to the doctrine of evolution. But I 

 affirm that such reasoning is wrong, 

 and Professor Huxley shall give the 

 answer. If once, in the mighty ac- 

 tivities of the evolving past, dead 

 matter was at some point of crisis and 

 necessity changed into that which 

 lived, and one of its properties was 

 .the capacity to multiply itself indefi- 

 nitely, why do we need the constant 

 change or transmutation of that which 

 is dead into that which is living to-day? 



Says Huxley : " If all living beings 

 have been evolved from existing forms 

 of life, it is enough that a single par- 

 ticle of protoplasm should have ap- 

 peared on the globe, as the result of 

 no matter what agency; in the eyes 

 of a consistent evolutionist any fur- 

 ther independent formation of proto- 

 plasm would be sheer waste."* 



Then the facts are: — i. That pro- 

 toplasm or "bioplasm" is a certain 

 definite compound possessing the 

 properties of life. 



2. That life is nowhere found with- 

 out it. 



* Encyc. Brit., vol. iii., p. 68g. 



3. That only living matter can pro- 

 duce living matter. 



Now, I ask, do the stability and 

 precision discoverable in the opera- 

 tion of chemical and physical law, as 

 applied to non-living substances, hold 

 good in the operation of the discover- 

 able laws of biology ? I maintain 

 that they do. 



One error often entering into a dis- 

 cussion of matters concerning proto- 

 plasm, is to suppose that we are dis- 

 cussing an abstract thing. Who ever 

 saw abstract protoplasm ? There is 

 no such thing. You may have the 

 protoplasm of an alga, or of a trout, 

 or of a man; but you cannot have 

 protoplasm that belongs to nothing. 

 As there is no abstract matter dis- 

 coverable by us, so there is no ab- 

 stract protoplasm. You may have 

 matter endowed permanently with the 

 properties of gold, or silver, or hydro- 

 gen; but the matter common to and 

 underlying them all is not discover- 

 able. 



You must, therefore, if you have 

 matter at all, have it specialized, en- 

 dowed with certain properties. 



It is so with protoplasm. It is never 

 within our reach as an unspecialized 

 compound. We know it as the pro- 

 toplasm of a mushroom, or an oak, or 

 an amoeba, or a sparrow, and there- 

 fore with the special properties be- 

 longing to that and to nothing else. 



Living stuff is the product of living 

 things. Living things are developed 

 according to known and discoverable 

 laws, as rigid as those which deter- 

 mine the composition of carbonic acid 

 or chloride of sodium, only more 

 complex. 



A New Microscope. 



We illustrate this month a new mi- 

 croscope-stand by J. Grunow, of this 

 city. It is of brass, with the excep- 

 tion of the base which is japanned. 

 With the draw-tube down, in the 

 vertical position, it is twelve inches 

 in height. With two oculars, a i-inch 

 and a ^-inch objective, and double 



