anded by John Murray,
set out on a voyage of deep-sea exploration. "The naturalists of the
'Challenger' began their voyage in full Bathybian faith. But the sturdy
mind of Mr. John Murray kept its balance--all the more easily since he
never could himself find or see any trace of this protoplasm _when the
dredges of the 'Challenger' came fresh from the ocean bottom_. Again and
again he looked for it, but never could he discover it. It always hailed
from England. The bottles sent there were reported to yield it in
abundance, but somehow it seemed to be hatched in them. The laboratory
in London was its unfailing source. The ocean never yielded it until it
had been bottled. At last, one day on board the 'Challenger,' an
accident revealed the mystery. One of Mr. Murray's assistants poured a
large quantity of spirits of wine into a bottle containing some pure
sea-water, when lo! the wonderful protoplasm Bathybius appeared! It was
_the chemical precipitate of sulphate of lime_ produced by the mixture
of alcohol and sea-water! Thereafter 'Bathybius' disappeared from
science."

The term "protoplasm" has, indeed, been retained by writers on biology.
The whole body of an animal, and the structure of plants, are understood
to consist of cells. The cells consist of a colorless substance, and
this is called "protoplasm." It is a substance of very complex chemical
and physical make-up, in fact, no chemist has yet been able to analyze
it and a famous biologist says that very probably it may never be
analyzed (David Starr Jordan.) Protoplasm, like the white of egg, is the
basic substance of life, yet in the variety of forms which it takes it
is of _"almost unlimited complexity"_ (Jordan). Now, a new difficulty
develops when this complex character of protoplasm as it is now found in
animals and plants is considered. Clear (unmodified) protoplasm, as
found in white of egg and in the white cells of the blood, is the
structureless substance called albumen. However, protoplasm varies
almost infinitely in consistency, in shape, in structure, and in
function. It is sometimes so fluid as to be capable of forming in drops,
sometimes semifluid, sometimes almost solid. In shape the cells may be
club shaped, globe shaped, threaded, flat, conical. Some protoplasm
produces fat, others produce nerve substances, others brain substances,
bone, muscle, etc., each producing only its own kind, uninterchangeable
with the rest. Lastly, there is the overwhelmi