THE DESCENT OF PROTOPLASM 173 



power to bring about at the present day. Reference 

 may once more be made to the suggestion which has 

 been offered, that artificial cells are nothing more 

 than precipitates. Such a view can only betray the 

 most profound ignorance of the subject. Bacterial 

 cultures will give precipitates when treated in 

 a similar manner. Moreover, the precipitates 

 are insoluble, whilst the cellular structures are 

 soluble in warm water. This solubility is not 

 merely apparent, as might easily be supposed 

 when the quantity of the salt used is very small. 

 Such an effect might delude one when the obser- 

 vations are made with the naked eye or with 

 magnifying powers which are insufficient to serve 

 the minute bodies themselves, which it must be 

 remarked do not exceed a certain size. These bodies 

 can be seen with twelve-inch oil immersion objec- 

 tives ; with lower powers they are scarcely visible, 

 and their ^-solubility can only be tested by such 

 microscopic examination. There can be no doubt 

 that they are cellular and soluble, being more 

 like the bodies obtained by Quincke than the 

 results of such crude and superficial observations 

 as some, for instance, have so inaptly imagined. 

 No doubt, in using a large quantity of salt, one 

 can destroy the cellular structure by producing 

 coalescence ; as has been said before, if a bucketful 

 of the salt be thrown in a few other bucketsful 

 of gelatin, we should no doubt obtain a great pre- 

 cipitate. It will in fact be the best way of not 

 getting the results. 



