926 The Variability of Protoplasm. — [ September, 
can readily appreciate this agitation, this bowing and strutting, 
and all manner of quaint motions, as if the very last drop of his 
quaint lacertilian blood was on fire—for coyishly, and with all due 
deference, reclines before his lordship, his chosen mate, exerting 
all her chameleonic powers to hide her blushes by vain endeavors 
to match the colored pattern of her couch, with all the bronzes 
and browns at her command. He can withstand her charms no 
longer, and for the moment, laying aside all dignity, and the ob- 
ject of his affections not unwillingly submitting, in the next in- 
stant finds herself in the passionate embraces of her lord, who, to 
make sure that he has actually won his coveted prize, winds 
about her lithe form, perhaps in some mystic love-knot, his entire 
caudal extremity, and blinds her eyes, first on one side and then — 
on the other, by the extension of the flaming ornament at his 
throat. 
sO: 
l 
d 
THE VARIABILITY OF PROTOPLASM. 
BY CHARLES MORRIS. 
a the other planets inhabitable, or is life confined to wi 
earth? This is a question which has been widely debatet — 
with various conclusions. It is not probable and hardly possible 
that the surface conditions and temperature of any other planet 
of the solar system closely resemble those of the earth. Be: 
where in the universe may be very many planets approaching “i T 
earth in condition, and on which life may exist. But as regara a ie 
planets of our system the question at issue has hitherto a 
whether their surface temperature might or might not " 
that of the earth. If the former they might sustain life. R 
latter it was held that they must be lifeless. i 5 uel 
But to say that life can only exist under conditions SIMI% 
those with which we are familiar is to make a bold assertion , 
measuring 10% 
m the activ 
It is ta 
Soi ote 
keene es Focal re eS es Pelee Ae ee ade en A 
assumed that life everywhere must arise 
protoplasm, and that protoplasm can only exist under ae 
like those to which we are accustomed. This assump" i 
yet be disproved, but it may be questioned. 
