Protoplasts Are Elementary Organisms 127 



through their influence it will doubtless be more gener- 

 ally adopted.* 



Protoplasts are elementary organisms in the true sense 

 of the word. They consist distinctly of individual organs, 

 which are more or less sharply distinguished from each 

 other and which possess a high degree of mutual indepen- 

 dence. In the greatest number of plants this structure is 

 clearly evident, but in the lowest organisms this differ- 

 entiation is entirely wanting, or at least it is limited to 

 a great extent. Sometimes one meets with the expres- 

 sion ''unorganised plasm," even for organisms which by 

 no means lack differentiation. But doubtless this expres- 

 sion must be understood to mean that the methods so 

 far employed have not yet revealed any insight into the 

 organization, and not that the want of any kind of organs 

 has been thoroughly studied and definitely proven. 



*As is well known, the term is now in common use. Tr. 



