Lability and Energy in Relation to Protoplasm, 
BY 
"Dr. O. LoeWj Professor of Agricultural Chemistry. 
I have explained in former Bulletins 0 * that physiological 
phenomena compel us to infer the existence of a labile (active) 
and a stable (passive) modification of albumin, and that the 
former alone,—as such and in the form of active nuclein —, is 
capable of leading by “ organization ” to living protoplasm, while 
the latter, or stable, modification would correspond to the condi¬ 
tion of the albumin in dead protoplasm and to the reserve-albumin 
stored up in seeds and eggs. I have also described a highly 
labile kind of albumin, which is stored up as reserve material 
in the vacuoles and sometimes in the cytoplasm of living cells of 
various plants/ 2 * and which undergoes a chemical change under 
conditions that would kill living protoplasm. 
I have further attempted to show that in regard to organic 
compounds, lability implies for the atoms in labile positions a 
distinct kind of energy consisting in continuous atomic motion 
which increases under the influence of heat, molecular motion 
passing here into atomic motion. Thus the cause of the respira¬ 
tion of protoplasm, and the utilisation of the heat of respiration 
for biological chemical function's of a katalytic nature, find a 
simple explanation. My incomplete treatment of lability, how¬ 
ever, has called forth critical remarks 1 2 (3) which induce me to offer 
some further remarks. The critic says among other things : 
“ That the functions of living matter are explicable in mecha¬ 
nical terms, physiologists of all schools alike admit. Dr. Loew’s 
merit lies in his offering us a plausible explanation of the mecha¬ 
nical basis of vital energy , of that activity in which, as is well 
said by BUNGE (one of the foremost of the vitalistic school), “ lies 
the riddle of life.” 
(1) Bulletin, Vol. II, No. 2; No. 4. 
(2) This remarkable substance was discovered by Th. Bokorny and myself. Daiku- 
hara made further communications on the extent of its distribution through the vege¬ 
table kingdom (Vide Bulletin No. 2 and 4). 
(3) Japan Mail, July 30 ; 1896. 
