ars ago it was thought that experimental proof had been
found for the presence on earth of the original, simple, unorganized
protoplasm; that the basis of all life on earth had been discovered,--in
the depths of the ocean. The story of this "discovery" is entertainingly
told by the Duke of Argyle in the _"Nineteenth Century"_ magazine. We
quote from his article.

"Along with the earlier specimens of deep sea deposits sent home by
naturalists during the first soundings in connection with the Atlantic
telegraph cable, there was very often a sort of enveloping slimy mucus
in the containing bottles which arrested the attention and excited the
curiosity of the specialists to whom they were consigned. It was
structureless to all miscroscopic examination. But so is all the
protoplasmic matter of which the lowest animals are found. Could it be a
widely diffused medium of this protoplasmic material, not yet
specialized or individualized into organic forms, nor itself yet in a
condition to build up inorganic skeletons for a habitation? Here was a
grand idea. It would be well to find missing links; but it would be
better to find the primordial substance out of which all living things
had come. The ultra-Darwinian enthusiasts were enchanted. Haeckel
clapped his hands and shouted _Eureka!_ loudly. Even the cautious and
discriminating mind of Professor Huxley was caught by this new and grand
generalization of the 'physical basis of life;' It was announced by him
to the British Association in 1868. Dr. Will Carpenter took up the
chorus. He spoke of 'a living expanse of protoplasmic substance,'
penetrating with its living substance the 'whole mass' of the oceanic
mud. A fine new Greek name was devised for this mother slime, and it was
christened 'Bathybius,'" (from two Greek words meaning "depth" and
"life,"), "from the consecrated deeps in which it lay. The conception
ran like wildfire through the popular literature of science. Expectant
imagination soon played its part. Wonderful movements were soon seen in
this mysterious slime. It became an 'irregular network,' and it could be
seen gradually 'altering its form,' so that 'entangled granules changed
their relative positions."

Such was Bathybius, which once raised such a commotion in the world of
science, but which is never heard of or even alluded to in scientific
circles today. And now for the issue of this discovery of such mighty
promise. In the year 1872, the "Challenger," comm