But here again we are unable to base our explanation upon chemical and physical forces. Reproduction, heredity, and variation are properties of the cell machine, and we are therefore thrown back upon the necessity of explaining the origin of this machine. Can we find a mechanical or chemical explanation of the origin of protoplasm? A chemical explanation of the cell is impossible, since it is not a chemical compound, but a piece of mechanism. The explanation given for the origin of animals and plants is also here apparently impossible. The factors upon which that explanation depended are factors of this completed machine itself, and can not be used to explain its origin. We are left at present therefore without any foundation for further advance. The cells must have had a history of construction, but we do not as yet conceive any forces which may be looked upon as contributing to that history. Whether life phenomena can be manifested by any mixture of compounds simpler than the cell we do not yet know.
The great problems still remaining for solution, which have hardly been touched by modern biology in all its endeavours to find a mechanical explanation of the living machine, are, therefore, three. First, the relation of mentality to the general phenomena of the correlation of force; second, the intelligible understanding of the mechanism of protoplasm which enables it to guide the blind chemical and physical forces of nature so as to produce definite results; third, the kind of forces which may have contributed to the origin of that simplest living machine upon whose activities all vital phenomena rest—the living cell.
INDEX.
A.
Absorption of food, [20]
Acquired characters, inheritance of, [164], [165], [166], [167], [171].
---- variations, [159], [160].
Amœba [73].
Anatomical evidence for evolution, [142].
Aquacity, [80].
Arm compared with wing, [144].
Aristotle, .
Assimilation, [80], [124], [149], [176].
Asters of dividing cells, [98].
B.
Barry, [63], [64].
Bathybias, [84].
Biology a new science, [1], [5], [15].
Blood, [35], [36], [38], [69], [73].
Blood-vessels, [35], [36].
Body as a machine, [22], [25], [49].
Bone cells, [69].
Building of the living machine, [131], [134], [136], [137], [167], [175], [180].
C.
Cartilage cells, [68].
Cell as a machine, [126], [128].
---- description of, [69].
---- division, [95], [96], [101].
---- discovery of, [58].
---- doctrine, [60].
---- substance, [65], [125].
Cells, [56], [84], [86], [118], [119].
Cellular structure of organisms, [65].
Cell wall, [64], [72].
Centrosome, [94], [96], [97], [101], [103], [105], [110].
Challenger expedition, [83].
Chemical evolution, [179].
Chemical theory of vitality, [14].
--of life, [78], [116].
Chemism or mechanism, [57], [176].
Chemistry of digestion, [27], [28];
---- of protoplasm, [76];
---- of respiration, [38].
Chromatin, [92], [94], [96], [102], [149], [153].
Chromosomes, [97], [98], [101], [105], [108], [110], [113], [152].
Circulation, [34].
Colonies of cells, [85].
Comparison of the body and a machine, [22].
Congenital variations, [158], [160], [163];
inheritance of, [164].
Connective-tissue cells, [70].
Conservation of energy, [7], [17].
Consciousness as a factor in machine building, [173].
Constructive chemical processes, [50], [51], [52], [124].
Continuity of germ plasm, [155].
Correlation of vital and physical forces, [13], [16], [22], [23], [24], [25].
Cytoblastema, [62].
Cytology, [10].
D.
Darwin, [81].
Death of the cell, [127].
Decline of the reign of protoplasm, [85].
Destructive chemical processes, [50], [51], [52], [125].
Dialysis, [29], [30], [31].
Digestion, [27].
E.
Egg, [103], [120], [152].
--division of, [63].
Egg, fertilization of, [102].
Embryological evidence for evolution, [140].
Energy of nervous impulse, [43], [54].
Environment, [171].
Evidence for evolution as a method of machine building, [139], [145].
Evolution, [9], [16], [81], [134].
Experiments with developing eggs, [121].
F.
Fat, absorption of, [32].
Female pronucleus, [110].
Fern cells, section of, [67].
Fertilization of the egg, [95], [102];
---- significance of, [112].
Fibres in protoplasm, [87];
---- in spindle, [98], [101].
Forces at work in machine building, [148], [176], [181].
Formed material, [64].
Free cell formation, [64].
G.
Geological evidence for evolution, [139].
Germ plasm, [154].
H.
Heart as a pump, [35].
Heat, [24], [44], [45].
Heredity, [148], [150], [176];
---- explanation of, [152].
Hereditary traits, [113], [153].
Historical geology, [6].
History of the living machine, [133], [147].
Horses' toes, loss of, [172].
Huxley, [11], [75], [83], [84].
I.
Irritability, [54].
Isolation, theory of, [170].
K.
Karyokinesis, [96], [101].
Kidneys, [41].
L.
Leaf, section of, [66].
Life the result of a mechanism, [115], [177].
Linin, [92], [103].
Linnæus, [1].
Lyell, [6].
Lymph, [36], [37].
M.
Machine defined, [20].
Machines the result of mechanical forces, [116].
Male cell, [104], [107].
---- pronucleus, [109].
Maturation of the egg, [104].
Mechanical nature of living organisms, [12].
Mechanical theory of life, [81], [144].
Membrane of the nucleus, [92], [101].
Mental phenomena, [47], [48].
Metabolism, [54].
Microsomes [87].
Migration, theory of, [170].
Monera, [88].
Movement, [54].
Muscle, [36], [71].
N.
Natural selection, [167].
Nerve-fibre cell, [70].
Nervous energy, [42], [44].
---- system, [41].
New biological problems, [15].
Nucleolus, [65], [92], [94].
Nucleus, [65], [84], [87], [93], [101], [103], [113], [124], [149];
----formation of new, [101].
---- function of, [89], [90], [95].
---- presence of, [87], [88], [89].
---- structure of, [91].
O.
Organic chemistry, [78].
Organic compounds, artificial manufacture of, [78], [82].
Origin of cell machine, [178], [179], [180].
Origin of life, [81], [182].
Osmosis, [29].
Oxidation, [80], [176].
---- as a vital process, [39], [56].
P.
Philosophical biology, [4].
Physical basis of life, [75].
Polar cells, [107].
Potato, section of cells, [67].
Properties of chemical compounds, [79].
Protoplasm, [14], [74], [82], [83], [84], [114], [115], [179].
---- artificial manufacture of, [82].
---- as a machine, [86], [178].
---- discovery of, [74].
---- nature of, [76].
---- structure of, [86], [87].
Purpose vs. cause, [11], [12].
R.
Reaction against the cell doctrine, [117].
Reign of law, [4].
---- of the nucleus, [91].
---- of protoplasm, [81], [85].
Relationship, significance of, [143].
Removal of waste, [39], [40].
Reproduction, [54], [80], [124], [148], [176];
---- rapidity of, [149].
Respiration, [37].
Reticulum of cell, [87];
---- of nucleus, [92].
Root tip, section of, [66].
S.
Schultze, [74], [75].
Schwann, [61], [62], [72].
Secretion, [39], [40].
Segmentation nucleus, [110].
Sensations, [46].
Separation of chromosomes, [100].
Sexual reproduction, [102].
Spermatozoan, [107], [109], [154].
Splitting of chromosomes, [99].
Spindle fibres, [101].
Struggle for existence, [168].
Summary of Part I, [128].
---- general, [182].
U.
Undifferentiated protoplasm, [83].
Unicellular animals, [71].
Units of vital activity, [53].
Use and disuse, [171], [172].
V.
Variation, [148], [157], [160], [176].
Variation from sexual union, [162].
Variation in germ plasm, [161].
Vegetative functions, [41].
Villi, [31].
Vital force, vitality, [13], [15], [34], [37], [52], [80], [85].
Vital properties, [54];
---- located in cells, [123].
W.
Wing compared with arm, [144].
Wood cells, [68].
THE END.
THE LIBRARY OF USEFUL STORIES.
Illustrated. 16mo. Cloth, 35 cents net per volume; postage, 4 cents per volume additional.
The Story of a Grain of Wheat. By W.C. Edgar.
The Story of Alchemy. By M.M. Pattison Muir.
The Story of Animal Life. By B. Lindsay.
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The Story of the Alphabet. By Edward Clodd.
The Story of Eclipses. By G.F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.
The Story of the Living Machine. By H.W. Conn.
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The Story of Germ Life. By Prof. H.W. Conn.
The Story of the Earth's Atmosphere. By Douglas Archibald.
The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the East. By Robert Anderson, M.A., F.A.S.
The Story of Electricity. By John Munro, C.E.
The Story of a Piece of Coal. By E.A. Martin, F.G.S.
The Story of the Solar System. By G.F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.
The Story of the Earth. By H.G. Seeley, F.R.S.
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The Story of the Stars. By G.F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.