213 
it obvious eiiougli that iieitliei* tlio fonuatloii nor the action of 
the watch, or the steam-engine, or the windmill can be due to 
the properties of the matter of which the machine is made, but 
that formation and action depend upon the manner in which 
the parts are fashioned and put together and made to work. 
And, of course, the suggestion will occur to those who think 
that, if all these machines were to be destroyed and pounded 
to pieces, the matter would still retain its material properties, 
although no one could then discover that it had ever taken 
the form of a watch, or an engine, or a windmill, any more 
than a chemist from a thorough examination of the mere matter 
and its properties would be able to premise that it would one 
day take the windmill, watch, or other form. But, however 
severely faith in materialism may be shaken by thought, its 
admirers may take comfort in the consideration that, although 
to their uninformed intellects much may seem doubtful, un- 
certain, and strange, the high priests of materialism could 
unquestionably explain all, and make everything clear, if they 
deemed it desirable and to the advantage of the millions to 
do so at this time. The final and complete materialistic 
revelation is to come in good time. 
Protoplasm and Physical basis of Life have entered 
into many dictational utterances, and the words must by this 
time be familiar to every one. But if we endeavour to ascer- 
tain the exaxt meaning which is attached to the words, and 
try to make an accurate estimate of their value with regard to 
the new light supposed to have been thrown by their use upon 
the question of the nature of life and the relation of non-living 
to living matter, we shall find that our task is not an easy 
one. Protoplasm, it is said, is the physical basis of life. The 
moving matter in the hair of a nettle, or in a cell of vallisneria, 
the moving matter of the body of an Amaeba or a white-blood 
corpuscle, white of egg, boiled white of egg, muscle, roasted 
and boiled muscle, boiled lobster, are, it has been said, com- 
posed of protoplasm and constitute the physical basis of life. 
Upon the molecular changes taking place in these different 
forms of matter, life, it has been affirmed, depends, and all of 
them, it is said, are composed of molecular mechanisms.” 
No one can attentively study the statements, and apply his 
mind to the examination of the assertions which have been 
made, without observing that the same name, protoplasm, is 
applied to matter in essentially different states. Living matter 
is called protoplasm ; dead and boiled and roasted matter is 
also called protoplasm. Living matter, dead matter, and 
roasted matter are all the physical basis of life. That which 
is not only dead, but has been dead for a long time, is the 
