LIVING PROTOPLASM AND CHEMICAL LABILITY. 13 



nucleins and perhaps related proteids participate in the composi- 

 tion of the organoids of the cell. The active proteids become living 

 protoplasm by the process of organisation. 



What kind of chemical character must then be ascribed to 

 the active proteids ? We can answer this question but in one 

 and that at being decided sense : They are exceedingly labil com- 

 pounds that can be easily converted into relatively stable ones. 

 A great lability is the indispensable and necessary founda- 

 tion for the production of the various actions of the living pro- 

 toplasm, for the mode of motions that move the life-machinery. 

 There is a source of motion in the labil position of atoms in mole- 

 cules, a source that has hitherto not been taken into considera- 

 tion either by chemists, or by physicists. 



The opinion that at a given temperature the motions of all 

 atoms in a compound are equal must be refuted as erroneous. 

 Labil atoms have a greater energy of motion than the stable 

 ones of the same substance. l) We know, that the atoms with 

 their sphere of oscillations occupy in different compounds 

 different volumes; 2 ' the oxygen in the aldehydegroup occupies a 

 larger volume than in the hydroxylgroup, the ratio being 1 :o,6. 

 The atomic volume of nitrogen in the cyanogengroup is larger 

 than in the nitrogroup and here again larger than in the amido- 

 group, the ratio being 1:0,50:0,13. And if the atomic volume 

 of hydrogen were determined carefully in different combina- 

 tions we should very probably find, that it occupies, in an 

 aldehyde-and in an amidogroup a larger volume than in a 

 methyl-and in a hydroxylgroup. 



It will perhaps be not out of place to explain the nature of 

 chemical lability in a few words. 



A labil position exists, if in a molecule one atom is influ- 

 enced simultaneously by the affinities of two neighboring atoms. 

 Thus lively oscillations are produced bringing on a great ability 

 for reactions and an inclination for a spontaneous migration of 

 the labil atom into a stable position. 



1) Atoms moved simultaneously by heat and by chemical affinity must possess 

 more energy than those moved by heat alone. 



2) Unsaturated carbon compounds occupy a larger molecular volume than 

 calculated from the numbers belonging to the saturated ones. — Aldehyde has further 

 a larger specif, volume than the isomeric ethylenoxyde, the ratio being 56, 4 : 50, 6. 



