Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-06-01

tlOn OF starchy and Oleaglnous substances
without the organic saline matters, would ht
assert his capability of maintaining for any
great length of time the functions of his mar.
velous organism and of acting, thinking
and feeling? A man." Gays DR.. Dalton
= may be starved to death at last by depriv-
ing him of chloride of sodium or phosphate
OF lime, just as surely, though not 80 rapid
ly, as if he we're deprived of albumen or oil ~
Why are not these 80 physical bases of life -
Why should protOplasm be called The physi-
cal basis of life, very much after the manner
in which the Bible is called The Book :
Where is there any such one compound sub
stance in existence, which is capable in itseli
alone, IN virtue of its own inherent proper
ties. of evolving all the varieties of life We
see No nature permits no such arrogant
1 assumptions. She is the all in all, the all
through all. In every cell she is present in
a million subtle ways. a. No protoplasm nc
Newton" is no more true than - No chic
ride of sodium Newton And it were
as sensible TO isolate and defy the one prih-
| ciple as the other. to resolve Lear into rock
salt as 20 resolve Lear into albominoid matter
and any and everything AZ can do on its own
| private account. Why not be conSent with
showing. pbysiologieally. the important role
| played by albuminoid compounds in the
structure of living beings, without running
into the imhecility of holding all else of small
account and to be slurred over with simple
| allusion to a. mobilization -
1be proposition, then, '' that all animal
and vegetable organisms shall be identified In
protoplasm,' will not hold either of chemical
substance or form. To attempt this is to de-
prive the term Of all definite meaning Ii is
either to ignore innumerable cooperating en-
crgies, or 70 conlOund them all with mere
albuminoid matter. And in this latter case.
itasserts nothing more than the vacant prop
oeitIon that all the countless causes that
work together to build up a man are the
causes of a man. But this it is not worth
while writing pamphlet to prove.
Professor Huxley's lecture is evidently
written in polemical rather than purely
scientific spirit. His - living clay" has
clearly been baked by him into brick to
throw at some theological or kindred head.
lie wants it TO hurt when it hits, and with
this end in view he labOrs largely at the as
sertiOn that there is no justification for
suming the existence in living matter of a
something which has no representative or
correlatTve in the nOn-living matter which is
the source of it. The animus Of his pamph-
let is, patiently, a mood of mind which finds
keen satisfaction In reducing all that is high
est even in man 20 meager and distasteful
antecedents. A single analogy plays prom
inent part in his argument. 1--WE think ft
to call different kinds of matter carbon, Oxy-
gen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, and TO speak of
the various powers and activities OF these
substances as the properties of the matter of
which they are composed. When hydrogen
and oxygen are mixed IN certain proportions,
and the electric spark is passed through
them, they disappear, and quantity of wa
ter equal in weight TO the sum of their
weight appears in their place. There is not
the slightest parity between the active and
ff he ats md nF q ha
hydrogen and oxygen which gave rise to it.
Nevertheless we call these the properties Of
the water, and do not hesitate 10 believe that
in some way they result from the properties
of the competent elements of the water. Is
the case in any way changed when earbonie
acid, water, and ammonia disappear, and in
their place, under the influence of preexist-
ent living protoplasm, an equivalent weight
of be nnsss l,ss rs-.- srs Fes~--es~ : =
Now an this sounds plausible at the first
hearing and somewhat startling. But is &c
not only another aspect of the same enforced
unity attained by ignoring difference, already
complained of? Yes, in a sense, We speak of
the properties of water, and believe they re-
suit from the component clement That Is,
we believe the same fundamental atoms are
there and the same forces. only acting and
reacting on one another in a way to produce
new series of interior motions. But how
long can water be studied and attention be
still confined to the properties strictly derived
from the oxygen and hydrogen? =? We study
it as subjected to and operated on by great
number of other forces. and the resultant
phenomena arc due to the combination and
not to the water alone. Water crystalizes
into ice, expands into steam. Now it is
cloud, now snowflake, now rain, now frosty
imitation of the must complex forms of veg
etable folinge. Is it all these by inherent
pr,a # rs nr hx-t ha MIA
itself of external forces infinitely varied in
kind and degree? Surely it is only in a very
loose way of speaking, and for mere con-
venience, that can attribute all this to
anything in the water alone. As phenomena.
we have very inadequate conceptions of them
while We dwell exclusively on what is only
one factor in the case. But the evil of this
kind of view grows mitliou-fold greater
when we cOme to deal with still more highly
compound substances. The molecular ar
rangements taken on by the four primal
elements that enter into the formation of
rrOtoplasm, seem to serve to bring that sub
stance into relation with an ineonceivsble
variety of powers in the vast complexus OF |
nature, and they make the substance the
theater of an entirely new and distinct class
of phenomena. But without the most inti
mate association with still other primal and
compound elements, without contact with
the million subtle Influences that work
through every organization.-and We have
no prUtOplasm except such as is born in and
of organization, without all these We wit !
ness none of the phenomena of life manifested
by any mere chemical compound of oxygen,
hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen. lt will
never do TO lose sight of the countless organ
izing forces that have been focused on every
primitive germ, and have determined how it
shall develop and into what. The egg is not
something apart The father is in it, the
mother Is in it. The diet, climate, mode of
hie, the everything that influenced the par
ents through the innumerable inlets of their
own structures. the whole past history OF
the planet are in il. We cannot throw these
out and fall back on a mere enumeration of
the four chemical elements of protoplasm-
The most these can do is to contribute one
stage TO the process. And 60 fall into a sort
of stupid wonder and fetch worship over
them, ins.ead of tracing organization through
the converging lines of the infinitely varied,
exquisitely- adjusted, ,end-eontemplating pow
ers working from all quarters of the universe,
is a pitiable business.
This latter and in every way more rational
view, takes us quite out OF the region of
blind chemical afinities and simple varieties
of molecular notion. 1t introduces us into
tho manifest world of order, thought, pur-
pose. For a sublime result we claim, in
their totality, adequately sublime antece-
dents. We find these in the srchitectonic
unity working through all things. Face to
face with this, we refuse to recognize the
reason of respiring lungs, beating heart. see
ing eye, and hearing ear in mere molecular
agency. These marvellous creations are ex-
pressions of something marvellous and awe
inspiring behind them. And with this awe
and wonder in our hearts, We feel it to be in
fuitely more satisfactory and true, to call
the life the inherent property of the organ
izing and life-giving energy that binds in
common unity the million separate atoms
and motions, than to call it the Inherent