62 
intussusception. This analogy between the processes of growth 
in an organ and that of the cells composing it, is not merely 
external. All scientists agree that no living substance can origi- 
nate from a dead one. That is, inside the organism all living 
substance must come from living. This is the first assumption 
or premise on which is founded the new theory. 
In order to avoid misconception here, he explains, that in the 
process of assimilation, in its widest sense, dead substance be- 
comes a part of living, but that this can happen only in the 
presence, and by the aid of living matter, so in this sense there is 
no objection to the hypothesis as above stated. 
The second assumption is, that no other method of new for- 
mation occurs in an organism except that of division. The cell 
originates from the division of a cell; the same is true of the 
nucleus, also of the chlorophyll-grain or that from which it springs, 
etc., etc. The process of division is found to be so intimately 
connected with all living things as to lead to the conclusion that 
it also plays a part in processes so obscure as to be hidden from 
our observation. This hypothesis is closely connected with the 
first. Admitting these two premises we must necessarily admit 
that protoplasm cannot regenerate itself without a process of inner 
division. That is, when a meristem cell divides and its parts 
extend themselves, the substance being increased, this new forma- 
tion is the result of the inner division of the protoplasm. There- 
fore the living substance of the plant, and to this is reckoned not 
only the cytoplasm, nucleus and similar structures, but also the 
cell-wall, must consist -of little organized individuals having the 
power to divide themselves. They must also have the power to 
grow, else they would cease to be organized ; having the power to 
grow implies the power to assimilate. Therefore the conclusion, 
“Living substance consists of small organized individuals, having 
the power to divide, to grow, and to assimilate.” 
These smallest portions of the organism he names Plasomen, 
and says in reference to their union with one another, it may be 
of various kinds, but probably in most cases they are so united 
that each is in contact with water. Now if the cell and its living 
parts are composed of these plasomes, as a leaf is composed of 
cells, then the growth of the cell must result from the growth of 
