THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF LIFE 



329 



l-'in. lil. —Hijalopus (Gromia) DnjanUnii, granular disintegration. 1, Whole individual ; numerous 

 pseudopodia are extended from the egg-sliaped, membranous shell ; at the left they are being 

 drawn in. II and ///, "Pseudopodia cut off ; granular disintegration is developing ; the 

 globules and droplets of protoplasm are held together simply by a loose, viscous connecting- 

 mass ; between them lie scattered larger droplets of hyaline protoplasm (///, X*, h\ and 

 viscous globules (///, D, a). IF, Pseudopodium which has been cut off at a, and from that 

 point on is undergoing granular disintegi-ation, highly magnified ; at a the granular disin- 

 tegi-ation is completed, the globules are separated ; at & disintegration is beginning, being 

 ushered in by the formation of vacuoles ; between these two points occur all transition-stages, 

 r, Opening of the shell of Hi/alopus, with extended pseudopodia ; three have been stimulated 

 at the place indicated by the arrow and have assumed an irregular contour. T/, Place of 

 stimulation of a pseudopodium strongly magnified ; vacuoles are shown, the protoplasm of 

 whose walls is irregularly contracted. Comparison with I V shows the agreement of the 

 two. 



pseudopodia draw in the latter and become lumpy, or the thread- 

 like pseudopodia become varicose and disintegrate into small 

 globules (Fig. 143). Bits of protoplasm from the interior of cells 

 that have a constant form, e.g., plant-cells or tissue-cells, or even 

 from free-living cells, always become rounded into spherical drops 

 (Fig. 34, a, p. 94). Contractile fibrillae and muscle-fibres pass into 

 rigor viortis, i.e., they contract for the last time (p. 133), and only 

 when the rigor has passed away, when death is completed, do 



/ II 



Fig. 142. — /, Amoilia] A, normal ; B, in necrobiosis. //, Leucocyte ; A, normal; B, in necrobiosis. 



they become again passively extended by the action of elastic 

 elements. In brief, it is found everywhere that protoplasm whose 

 contractility can in any way be expressed dies in the condition of 

 contraction. 



It would be of value to determine, by a comparative investiga- 

 tion of necrobiotic phenomena, still other peculiarities common to 

 histolytic processes. As Israel ('97, 1, 2) has rightly emphasised 

 very recently in his researches upon the death of the cell, especiallj- 

 the kind of death and the duration of necrobiosis should be studied. 

 Only through the comparative history of death can an under- 

 standing of necrobiotic phenomena, which is now largely wanting, 

 be hoped for in time, and with it will come an advance in 

 our knowledge of the vital process itself 



