232 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



each substance. The only difference is that we always 

 find in the organic world certain very complex chemical 

 compounds, especially the albuminoids, that are not 

 found in the inorganic. 



But important as the results of long chemical research 

 are, we must not exaggerate them. The living sub- 

 stance is as enigmatic as ever, because we only know 

 its composition after death. The analyses that have 

 acquainted us with its constituents had to kill it before 

 any result could be obtained. We may, nevertheless, 

 assume that the organic substance consists chiefly of 

 albuminoids in life as well as after death, but their 

 behaviour is very different in the two cases. We can 

 preserve dead albumen for a long time, if we keep 

 bacteria away from it, without decomposition setting 

 in, whereas the albuminous matters in the living 

 state are continually breaking up even under normal 

 conditions, and the more readily the stronger the 

 stimuli that act on them. We must, therefore, 

 draw a profound distinction between living and dead 

 albumen. 



This has induced many scientists to discard the name 

 " living albumen," and replace by the term " biogen." 

 We know very little of the real composition of these 

 biogens. As they pass into dead albumen when the 

 organism dies, it is very probable that they closely 

 resemble it in texture, and especially that they contain 

 no different elements. But certainly the grouping of 

 their elements is different from in dead albumen ; it 

 is, in particular, looser, as only in that way can we 

 explain the ready disintegration of the biogens. It is 



