PROTOPLASM 



but that they do not exhaust their subject. 

 They leave unexplained all the phenomena of 

 life which continue in autolytic mixtures. All 

 the theories which lay stress upon the peculiar 

 chemical nature of protoplasm can be called the 

 Stuff -Theories of Life. Such a theory was that 

 which was kept in mind when Biology first began 

 the investigation of protoplasm. In consequence 

 of this view analyses were desirable. The analysis 

 of protoplasm should be as correct and complete 

 as possible, in order to show of what kind of 

 substance the substratum of life consists. The 

 difficulty was to collect a sufficient quantity of 

 pure protoplasm for analytical purposes. Reinke 

 and Rodewald in 1880 tried to solve this important 

 question by an extensive analysis of the mucous 

 plasmodium of Fuligo varians. This organism 

 consists of a yellow slimy matter, exactly com- 

 parable to the cell-protoplasm of other plants. 

 The result of this famous analysis was to show 

 that protoplasm consists of different organic 

 and inorganic compounds. The greater number 

 of the organic protoplasmatic substances, however, 

 were found to belong to protein matter, sensu lato. 

 About J or f of the dry substance of protoplasm 

 can be considered to be protein bodies. Of the 

 remainder about half were found to be fatty 

 bodies, sugar, and carbohydrates. The other 

 part contained different organic acids, of which 

 amino-acids may particularly be mentioned, 



