Excerpt from Investigations on Microscopic Foams and on Protoplasm: Experiments Observations Directed Towards a Solution of the Question of the Physical Conditions of the Phenomena of Life IN the preface to the studies published by me in 1876, upon the primary developmental processes of the ovum, cell division, etc., I pointed out that the morphological method of consideration, which had led to such brilliant results for the comprehension of multicellular organisms, fails to be of service to us when we attempt to penetrate deeper into the essential nature of the elementary organism - the cell. I expressed the view that the phenomena exhibited by and in the elementary organism could not assume an intelligible form except through a knowledge of the physical and chemical conditions of their origin and cessation. I also attempted in this work, and, as I believe, for the first time, to bring into requisition a property of fluid bodies, - namely, surface tension, in order to explain the phenomena of the division of the protoplasmic cell body, of which I had made a careful study. In the following investigations I believe I am able to bring forward a contribution towards a more accurate physical explanation of certain peculiarities of living matter or protoplasm. Since it is far from my intention to enter at present into detailed historical disquisitions upon the question of the structure and nature of protoplasm, I will only put forward here a few historical remarks upon my own position with regard to this question, in order to indi cate the train of reasoning which led to the investigations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.