6 THE PSYCHIC LIFE 



that the extended pseudopod seizes some point of sup- 

 port with its free end, then, in contracting, draws the 

 entire mass of the body up to this. But it is difficult 

 to understand what the cause of the elongation of the 

 pseudopodia is. It has been supposed that the pro- 

 toplasm is endowed with great elasticity and that the 

 elongation is the return of this substance to its primi- 

 tive form. That is not the explanation given by M. 

 Rouget. The learned professor of the Museum has 

 been kind enough to write out the following note for 

 us, in which he recapitulates his opinion: 



"Every time that a protoplasmic organism dies, or 

 is subjected either to a strong electric excitation, or 

 to a relatively high temperatvre (+ 45" to + 50°), the 

 pseudopodia are retracted and re-enter into the mass, 

 which assumes a globular form; the same is the case 

 in the protoplasm of vegetable cells, the inter-cellular 

 reticulum of which breaks in receding, or else the mass 

 of protoplasm divides into spherical bodies. These 

 states of retraction are the analogues of muscular 

 rigidity, and like it represent the condition of maximum 

 contraction in the protoplasm — nevertheless the st}4e 

 of the Vorticels {^Carchesiu'711) which is a protoplas- 

 mic formation, under the same conditions, remains in 

 a state of permanent retraction. It follows from this 

 that the emission of the pseudopodia, their elongation, 

 cannot in any case be considered as a direct act of the 

 contractility of the protoplasm. 



"The production of the pseudopodia, one of the 

 most difficult problems, cannot, in my opinion, be ex- 

 plained, except in the following manner: All proto- 

 plasmic masses, and especially the amoeba, consist of 

 two parts, an enveloping membrane or ectosarc, vis- 



