18 VAETING STRUCTURES. 



microscope nor by any kind of physical or chemical 

 investigation known, can we form any notion of the 

 nature of the substance which is to be formed by the 

 bioplasm, or what will be the ordinary results of its 

 living. 



SO. Variation in structure not clue only to varying 

 conditions. — And yet it would be childish trifling and 

 mere playing with the facts of nature to assert, as 

 some have done, that the character of the material 

 produced and the properties not only of the tissue but 

 of the bioplasm that produced it, depend in all cases 

 upon the conditions under which life is carried on, 

 mei-ely because it has been found that alteration in 

 the conditions under which life is carried on in some 

 cases determines slight alterations in the results. 



To deny inherent power in the original bioplasm is 

 to deny without reason — to deny as a dogmatist or a 

 bigot might deny ; for the production of any formed 

 material without bioplasm is impossible. Why or 

 how bioplasm produces formed material we know not, 

 but I have shown that the bioplasm dies — ceases to 

 be bioplasm, whenever formation occurs — whenever 

 structure is produced. And what are we to under- 

 stand by the nature, or power, or property of living 

 bioplasm ? With what is it comparable r With the 

 properties of non-living matter ? Clearly not, for do 

 not these belong to the matter itself, whether it be 

 living or dead ? Living properties are transferred 

 from one particle to others with the utmost rapidity, 

 but the very same matter may exist with or without 

 its vital properties. By no alteration "of conditions of 

 which we have any conception can a given portion of 

 matter which has once passed from the living to the 

 dead state be restored to the living condition, and 

 it is intolerable that we should be expected to receive 

 the dictum that the form, properties, and action of 

 living things are to be fully accounted for by the pro- 

 perties of the mere matter which enter into the com- 

 position of their bodies. 



