CHAPTER III. 



Living Protoplasm and Chemical Lability. 



The view that at the moment of death a chemical change of 

 the living matter takes place, finds support not only in the loss 

 of affinity to the molecular oxygen of the air, but also in the 

 different behaviour towards certain coloring matters as anilin 

 colors, by which no living protoplasm, but only dead, can be 

 stained, the latter even if the coloring substance be very diluted. 

 Some phenomena accompanying the death of an animal are also 

 in this relation very noticeable, siz. the rise of temperature 

 observed, when soon after the death of the nervous system the 

 muscular tissue is also succumbing, not being nourrished any 

 longer by currents of oxygenated blood. 



This socalled post mortal rise of temperature known long ago 

 and often incorrectly interpreted is really the mortal rise con- 

 nected with the proceeding death of the muscular tissue. Heat 

 is produced by chemical changes; chemical energy being easily 

 transformed into heat. 



Intimately connected with the death of the muscles is the 

 formation, resp. the increase of an acid reaction and of rigidness. 



All these facts can only be explained if the proteids of the 

 living cells undergo a chemical change ; and we may therefore 

 distinguish them as active proteids from the passive proteids of 

 the dead protoplasm. The name " living albumen," used some- 

 times, cannot signify anything else but living protoplasm, as life 

 is always the result of an organisation, of functions of proto- 

 plasmatic machines, and albumen itself without organisation 

 cannot be called " living," even if a high lability should lead to 

 much chemical energy. All the steam of a locomotive would 

 not pull the train, if the machine were not properly constructed. 

 The name " living albumen " should be discarded altogether, as 

 it might lead to erroneous conceptions. The name active 

 albumen, on the other hand, expresses merely a chemical 

 quality, a distinction of ordinary albuminous matter. Still 

 preferable is the name " active proteids," when the whole living 

 matter of a cell comes into consideration, because also active 



