Protoplasm ²

Abstract

IT is a natural and beneficial result of the present energetic pursuit of biological science that every now and again some thinker comes forward to show us where we stand, and to what our thoughts are impelling us. Subordinate to the universal eminence and influence of a Linnæus or a Darwin, the critics of a decade exert no small effect on contemporary investigation by suggesting new modes of viewing or expressing things; and even though the originality is not always happy, and the generalisations are sometimes unfortunate, it is nevertheless a healthy sign that specialists of reputation, led to view matters with a severely critical eye as their work progresses, occasionally turn round and warn us that it would be as well to take stock of the facts, and see what are the chances of solving some large problem. Moreover, it has to be borne in mind that as various branches reach a certain stage their results need overhauling by specialists in other departments, and it becomes a question who is to prepare the problems of biology, for instance, so that the mathematician or the physicist may criticise them.