Munson, Organization and Polarity of Protoplasm. 387 



in proportion as the limited sphere in which this transformation 

 and transmission takes place becomes isolated from direct distur- 

 bing influences from without. The all important pro- 

 b 1 e m , it seems to me, is the question as to the 

 origin of the first stages in this isolation. 

 For, when once initiated, it tends to increase as a permanent 

 structure is developed, tili the cell, like living things, instead of 

 being at the mercy of every external influence, becomes at last 

 able to modify those external influences, by contractility and 

 motion, and to create to a certain extent, an environment favo- 

 rable to its own well being. 



In this respect and in its staying power, a cell differs from a 

 flame of the candle to which it has been compared, and with 

 which, indeed, it has many points of resemblance. If we could 

 observe the structure of a burning flame, we should probably 

 discover a regularity in the flow and sequence of the ignited par- 

 ticles. Similarly, it may be that regulär currents of the particles 

 composing protoplasm may acquire, from mere inertin, a perma- 

 nency which resists change, and which consequently give rise to 

 permanent lines of force, which become visible in serial arrange- 

 ment of particles be they atoms, molecules, or vital units. These 

 definite paths and permanent lines of force, like those shown by 

 iron filings at the poles of a magnet may be responsible for the 

 visible structure which in the foregoing pages has been described 

 as the basis of polarity and Organization. When once this regulär 

 sequence in the discharges of energy is established, it tends to 

 perpetuate itself; and the structure becomes more definite, the 

 external form more fixed, and polarity more pronounced. 



Analogies may be of no scientific value, but they help us to 

 make clear the ideas we wish to convey. As in the social world, 

 so in the cell, order is a gradual development out of chaos. The 

 processes which we see at work in the world at large gradually 

 producing those exquisite harmonies, which we see everywhere, 

 are probably active also in that minute world which a cell, like 

 Amoeba, or an egg, represents. As potential and kinetic energy 

 are states of one energy, so structure and function the static 

 and the dynamic are counterparts of each other. 



As there are different forms of energy, so we may assume 

 that there are different forms of protoplasm, which indeed the 

 microscope reveals. Protoplasm is too complex a thing to be 

 reduced to a single cbemical formula. Its activities are too varied 

 to be explained by natural selection alone. In ignoring morpho- 

 J°gy» physiology disclaims the very reason for its existence. But 

 on ignoring physiology, morphology becomes a mere metaphysical 

 System of negations. Structure and function must be compre- 

 hended together if comprehended at all. The duality which other- 



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