76 THE BIOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE. 



various powers and activities of these sub- 

 stances, as the properties of the matter of 

 which they are composed. 



" If scientific language is to possess a definite 

 and constant signification whenever it is em- 

 ployed, it seems to me that we are logically 

 bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical 

 basis of life, the same conceptions as those 

 which are held to be legitimate elsewhere [i.e., 

 a 2 is a 2, no matter whether it is in one place 

 or another, as young Hopeful has often blub- 

 bered out over his sums]. If the phenomena 

 exhibited by water are its properties, so are 

 those presented by protoplasm, living or dead, 

 its properties. 



" If the properties of water may be properly 

 said to result from the nature and disposition 

 of its component molecules, I can find no in- 

 telligible ground for refusing to say that the 

 properties of protoplasm result from the nature 

 and disposition of its molecules. 



" But I bid you beware that, in accepting 

 these conclusions, you are placing your feet on 

 the first rung of a ladder, which, in most 

 people's estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, 

 and leads to the antipodes of heaven. It may 

 seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital 

 actions of a fungus or a foraminifer are the 

 properties of their protoplasm, and are the 

 direct results of the nature of the matter of 

 which they are composed. 



" But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to 



