THE ENERGY OF THE LIVING FROTOPLASM. 165 



acceptable hypothesis for this activity. Nageli in his attempt to 

 explain the fermentative activity of the yeast-cell assumes a 

 certain kind of motion in the living protoplasm, imparted to the 

 glucose molecules, loosening affinities, and leading to dis- 

 ruption into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Mc. Laughlin went 

 still farther, applying the laws of oscillations established by 

 physicists to the action of bacteria in infectious diseases. (I) But 

 neither Nageli nor Mc. Laughlin touched the question why such 

 energetic motions stop at once on the death of a cell, although 

 the conclusion that the living protoplasm must consist of 

 easily changeable, labile proteids was close enough at hand. 

 Mc. Laughlin expresses his views upon the fermentative action of 

 bacteria and yeast-cells in the following words : " The distinctive 

 energy or waves of a cell can influence those substances only, 

 whose waves bear a certain relationship to those of a yeast-cell ; 

 and they must be equal in their periods, direction, and, perhaps, 

 in other characteristics, before those on one side can influence 

 those on the other. The nature of this influence will again 

 depend on whether the two sets of waves coincide in trough and 

 crest. If they do, the waves will supplement each other and 

 their amplitude will be enlarged ; if they do not, they will 

 antagonise each other, and their amplitude will be diminished, or, 

 it may be, the waves will be destroyed by mutual antagonism ; it 

 will be remembered that all this occurs in waves of sound, of 

 light, and of water, and, if analogy has any merit, it can occur in 

 waves of molecular energy." Such considerations appear to be 

 justified, but there exist doubtless other influences which may 

 modify the expected result, such as the configuration of the 

 plasmic proteids and the tectonic of the plasmic apparatus (see 

 pag. 163, foot note). Further, it must be borne in mind that the 

 wave motions starting from the living protoplasm are of a far 

 more energetic nature than the molecular oscillations of any 

 other material in the cell. 



The chemical performances of living organisms could not fail 



(1) Fermentation, Infection, and Immunity, Austin, 1892. This treatise starts, 

 however, on several occasions from assertions which recently have been proved to be 

 incorrect. The toxalbumins of the infectious diseases are not produced from animal 

 proteids by fermentative actions, but are secretions of the bacterial protoplasm which 

 are formed even in culture media devoid of proteids. 



