CHAPTER II 



PROTOPLASM AND ITS CHEMICAL 

 PROPERTIES 



DURING its life and in the course of its evolu- 

 tion, the form of the body and its organs 

 is subjected to a continuous series of changes. 

 But at the same pace the organism of the in- 

 dividual undergoes chemical changes. Its general 

 composition is changed. Checnical analysis shows 

 new substances formed, which at an earlier age 

 were not yet present, whereas some substances 

 have disappeared. This is the parallelism of 

 morphological and chemical change in the life 

 of the individual. 



Chemical investigation, however, to a certain 

 extent teaches considerably more than Morpho- 

 logy does. We shall prove this in our discussion of 

 chemical reactions in living matter. 



Chemical changes in living substance con- 

 tinue without interruption as long as active 

 life prevails. So the chemist has to face great 

 difficulties when examining 4iving matter. From 

 his occupation with inorganic matter he will be 

 accustomed to see that no change takes place in 

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