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 
