THE DESCENT OF PROTOPLASM 175 



tude, resemble the products of radium and gelatin 

 more closely, but only in appearance, for they too 

 are insoluble in water. Dr. Bastian in his Be- 

 ginnings of Life, published some thirty years ago, 

 describes many similar effects. It is difficult to 

 say how far they are cellular in each particular 

 case, and I am inclined to think that in many 

 instances they are probably crystalline forms. Then 

 again, Herrera of Mexico, Klinstler of Bordeaux, 

 Leduc of Nantes and Debois of Lyons, have 

 obtained many types of bodies which seem to 

 be distinctly cellular; whilst Biitschli, Quincke, 

 Lehmann, and Schenck have observed and experi- 

 mented upon many similar bodies which might also 

 be described as cellular. The vital principle, how- 

 ever, is what is absent. In all cases it is possible 

 to regard them as corresponding to types which 

 have been eliminated owing to their inability to 

 carry on the cyclic process from generation to 

 generation. In fact, for this reason, if for this 

 reason alone, the biologist would not admit they 

 were alive. But in trying to fill in the gaps, how- 

 ever largely they may differ from the actual thing 

 we call living protoplasm, such phenomena are 

 nevertheless of interest and utility to those who 

 would make a comparative study of the effects 

 which resemble vitality in the remotest degree 

 throughout Nature. 



We have impressed this point more than once 

 before, for it cannot be too clearly emphasised in 

 considering the probable descent of living matter 



