ON THE VITALISTIC VIEW OF XATCRK 



427 



AnoLliL'i- way of iii([uii}' is b< ;autl}'.^e the existing 

 organic tissues still further by microscopic and chemical 

 methods, in order to tiud out how they are built up. 

 As the result of such inquiries we have a framework 

 theory of protoplasm, a foam theory, a filament theory, 

 a granular theory ; antl the attempt has been made to 

 define liviiit;- protoplasm as a colony of still smaller 

 structural units termed " bioblasts." By this twofold 

 method — by synthesis and by analysis — the biologist may 

 attempt to approach the physiological unit, the seat and 

 stronghold of the vital process.^ 



nitrogen entering into a cyanogen- 

 like relation with the atoms of 

 carbon, probaljly with the absorp- 

 tion of considerable lieat." Cj'ano- 

 gen being a radicle possessing a 

 great quantity of internal enei'gy, 

 the addition of it to the living 

 molecule " introduces into the living 

 matter energetic internal motion." 

 The interest which attaches to the 

 theory lies in this, that it allows us 

 to form some conception how living 

 matter originated. This problem is 

 identified with the problem. How 

 does cyanogen arise ? This we 

 know is formed at an incandescent 

 heat. •' Accordingly, nothing is 

 clearer than the possibility of the 

 formation of cyanogen compounds 

 when the earth was wholly or par- 

 tially in a tiery or heated state. . . . 

 If, now, we consider the inuneasur- 

 ably long time during which the 

 cooling of the earth's surface 

 dragged slowly along, cyanogen, 

 and the conijjounds that contain 

 cyanogen and hydrocarbon sub- 

 stances, hail time and o])portun- 

 ity to indulge extensively tlieir 

 great tendency towards transfor- 

 mation, . . . and to pa.ss over, with 

 the aid of oxygen, and later of 

 water aiid salts, into that self- 

 destructive proteid, living matter. 



. . . The first proteid to arise was 

 living matter, endowed in all its 

 radicles with the property of 

 vigorously attracting similar con- 

 stituents, adding them chemically 

 to its molecule, and thus growing 

 ad infinitum." This theory is in- 

 teresting, as it is, so far as I know, 

 the only attempt to reconcile the 

 existence of living matter with the 

 fact of the high temperature which 

 once existed on the earth. 



1 A description of these several 

 theories on the structure of proto- 

 plasm, among which the mici'llar 

 theory of Nageli, the foam theory 

 of Biitschli, and the *' bioblasts " 

 of Altmann, have been elaborately 

 developed, will be found in Prof. 

 0. Hertwig's work on ' The Cell ' 

 (Engl, transl., p. 19, &c.), as also 

 in ^I. Yves Delage's great work, 

 'L'Horcditc' (pp. 299-310). Ver- 

 worn (foe. cit., \<. 87) draws special 

 attention to the "alveolar" or 

 ' ' foam " theoiy, which, built upon 

 investigations of Prof. (,>uincke, 

 has "comj)letely claritied our ideas 

 u[)on the real nature of the proto- 

 plasmic structures so much ob- 

 serveil. . . . As a result of these 

 recent investigations the following 

 picture can be formed of the tiner 

 morphological structure of proto- 



