PROTOPLASM 



Life is destroyed, even if cell-structure is as com- 

 pletely as possible annihilated. Consequently some 

 substances must exist in protoplasm which are 

 directly responsible for the life-processes, which 

 do not cease with the destruction of the cell. 

 And these substances are characteristic of living 

 protoplasm. For when the cell-pulp is heated to 

 the temperature of boiling water these chemical 

 processes cannot be any longer observed. The 

 remainder of the cells may then be considered as 

 definitely dead. 



So we must come to the conclusion that, in 

 spite of the ingenious experiments and arguments 

 of Reinke and Rodewald, the comparison between 

 protoplasm and mechanical structure is not quite 

 an exact one. No mechanism is known which 

 would not be destroyed by minutely pounding it, 

 but which is destroyed by boiling water. And, 

 on the other hand, chemical alterations are quite 

 usually caused by a raised temperature, but 

 scarcely in any case by simply grinding down 

 the material. When we see that the substances 

 in living protoplasm are so easily destroyed by 

 heat, we are not surprised that the analysis of 

 protoplasm by Reinke and Rodewald could not 

 detect such constituent parts of living matter. At 

 present, however, it would be possible to carry 

 out exact analytical studies on protoplasm with 

 highly developed methods and with much more 

 success. Nevertheless, the literature of the last 

 c 17 



