SCIENCE. 



297 



One can indeed conceive tissues of the most elaborate 

 character, and new matter of the most wonderful prop- 

 erties and most complex composition, being developed in 

 the most regular and orderly manner without supposing 

 that any governing or controlling power acts upon them 

 at all, as it were, from a centre. That the most wonder- 

 ful order is manifest in the arrangement of the compo- 

 nent elementary parts, say, of a growing leaf, must be obvi- 

 ous to every one who has ever examined it ; but I feel 

 confident that as soon as each living particle has been 

 detached from the mass which preceded, it is no longer 

 influenced by the latter, and does not influence neighbor- 

 ing masses. Each may be pressed upon by its neigh- 

 bors, and press upon them in turn during growth, but 

 there is no reason to suppose that any one determines 

 the composition, governs the motion, or regulates the 

 action of others. The nutrient matter is distributed to 

 all by vessels or channels running amongst the several 

 collections. Those elementary parts farthest from the 

 nutrient supply will grow more slowly than those nearest 

 to it, but no formative or constructive of synthetic or 

 analytic influence is exerted by the nutrient fluid upon 

 the living matter, nor by the several elementary parts 

 upon one another. Each is under the influence of the 

 vital power associated with the matter of which it in part 

 consists; and whether each can exist independently if 

 separated from its neighbors, or dies soon after it is de- 

 tached, depends not upon any influence exerted upon it 

 by those neighbors, but simply upon the inherent capa- 

 bilities of its own vital power, transmitted to it from the 

 living matter which existed before it, and of which it once 

 formed a part. 



Nevertheless, each individual elementary part, say, of 

 a leaf, or other organ or tissue, must not in any case be 

 regarded as an individual, independent, or self-dependent 

 organism, for it constitutes but a part of a highly complex 

 whole which has been gradually formed in accordance 

 with a definite structural plan and arrangement, foreseen 

 and prepared for as it were from the very first. 



It is only by attributing the observed phenomena to 

 the operation of a special force or power, having no 

 analogy whatever with any known inorganic forces or 

 powers, that a reasonable explanation of the facts can be 

 framed. The phenomena which have been referred to 

 cannot correctly be compared to any processes or actions 

 which occur independently of life, neither can any true 

 analogy be pointed out between these and any physical 

 or chemical changes or actions of which we have at this 

 time any knowledge or experience. That the formation 

 of all tissues and organs is governed by " law " is no 

 doubt true, but the " law " is unknown, and whatever 

 may be its terms, the mode of its operation upon matter 

 is as different from that of any laws that are known to 

 operate in the non-living, as are the known and observed 

 facts of life from those of the inorganic matter of the 

 world. 



Now as regards the nature of the actual phenomena of 

 living matter which are at present beyond the range of 

 observation, at least two diametrically opposite ideas are 

 entertained. 



1. There is the commonplace notion that structure 

 exists which will account for the actions which take place, 

 but that the details of this supposed structure are too 

 minute or too delicate to be demonstrated by any magni- 

 fying powers which have yet been constructed. For this 

 idea there is no sufficient justification. It is one of those 

 assumptions in elaborating which the modern materialist 

 is so ingenious. In this way he struggles, and with some 

 success, to postpone for a time the inevitable fall of the 

 system he has endeavored to make popular in spite ot the 

 overwhelming evidence of facts against it. Here I must 

 remark that the word " structure as employed by physi- 

 cists is used in a sense utterly distinct from that in which 

 we use the word. This is evident enough if we consider 

 what is understood by the *• structure " of a crystal and 



the " structure " of an organ or tissue. The first " struc- 

 ture " at once disappears when the crystal is dissolved 

 and reappears whenever it is formed. The other struc- 

 ture results, or, as some say, is evolved, only after many 

 series of changes of a very complex character have been 

 completed. Once destroyed, the structure of an organ- 

 ism can only be restored by a long course of similar de- 

 velopmental processes. In fact, there is not the faintest 

 analogy between the structure of an organism and the 

 structure of a stone — the structure due to the operation 

 of living forces and the structure which is inherent with 

 other properties in non-living matter. 



2. There is the view supported by myself, and in favor 

 of which I have adduced evidence which I believe to be 

 perfectly convincing, that living matter has no definite 

 structure whatever — that, in fact, its particles, and very 

 probably their constituent atoms, are in a state of very 

 active movement, which renders structure and fixity of 

 arrangement impossible — this active movement being an 

 essential condition of the living state, which latter ceases 

 when the movement comes to a standstill. According to 

 this view the idea of structure as belonging to living mat- 

 ter is inconceivable. 



Now we know of no state in which non-living matter 

 exhibits any analogy with matter in the living state, so 

 that the cause of the state under consideration must have 

 reference to the living state, and to that only ; and to re- 

 assert, as many continue to do, that the phenomena man- 

 ifested by living matter are to be accounted for by the 

 properties of the material particles, is silly and perverse ; 

 and though the view of the peculiar nature of the vital 

 power here put forward and based upon a consideration 

 of the phenomena of living matter, may be ridiculed by 

 materialists, every one who thinks over the matter will 

 see at once why this course is taken by them. 



Professor Huxley, in his article "Biology," in the 

 " Encylopaedia Britannica " — without defining what he 

 means by the words " molecular " and " machine " — as- 

 sures his readers that " a mass of living protoplasm is 

 simply a molecular machine of great complexity, the total 

 results of the working of which, or its vital phenomena, 

 depend, on the one hand, upon its construction, and, on 

 the other, upon the energy supplied to it ; and to speak 

 of vitality as anything but the name of a series of opera- 

 tions, is as if one should talk of the ' horologity ' of a 

 clock."* This is the sort of teaching that has long re- 

 tarded the progress of thought, and affords an example of 

 the puerile objections palmed off on the public as scien- 

 tific criticism, and supposed to be sufficient to controvert 

 evidence founded upon observation, and arguments based 

 on facts which any one may demonstrate: Is it not 

 most wonderful that Professor Huxley can persuade him- 

 self that a single reader of intelligence will fail to see the 

 absurdity of the comparison he institutes between the in- 

 visible, undemonstrable, undiscovered " machinery " of 

 his supposititious "molecular machine " and the actual 

 visible works of the actual clock, which any one can see 

 and handle, and stop and cause to go on again ? 



Magnify living matter as we may, nothing can be 

 demonstrated but an extremely delicate, transparent, ap- 

 parently semi-fluid substance. But observations on some 

 specimens under certain advantages of illumination, and 

 with the aid of the very highest magnifying power that 

 can be brought to bear, favor the conclusion that living 

 matter should be regarded as consisting of infinite num- 

 bers of infinitely minute particles, varying much in size, 

 and possibly capable of coalescing, free to move amongst 

 one another, as they exist surrounded by a fluid medium 

 which contains the materials in solution for their nutri- 

 tion, and other substances, t 



[To be concluded in our next issue.] 



* Huxley, Article " Biology," Encyc. Brit, 

 t From the Journal of the R. M, S. 



