DIVISION OF THE VEGETABLE CELL. 29 



lutely homogeneous, and therefore structureless, it is most difficult 

 to conceive how this could be effected, while if the presence of con- 

 tractile filaments could be demonstrated, the difficulty would be at 

 once removed. Whether such filaments will ultimately be dis- 

 covered in all protoplasmic bodies it is impossible to say, but we 

 have evidence that in some cells such filaments do exist, and are 

 contractile, and that in others a filamentous structure has been ob- 

 served, although its function, if any, has yet to be determined. 



Dr. Allman, in the address from which a quotation has already 

 been given, pointed out and illustrated by numerous instances the 

 fact of the close agreement that exists between the protoplasm of 

 animal and vegetable cells, both in appearance and behaviour, 

 under the influence of reagents. We may therefore refer to obser- 

 vations which have recently been made in animal cells, but at the 

 same time it is interesting to note that this agreement between the 

 two kingdoms is still maintained, and that we are not left to argue 

 from analogy ; that because certain appearances and phenomena 

 have been observed in one, therefore they exist in the other. 



In 1879 Professor Julius Arnold described the appearance and 

 structure of a large number of animal cells, both normal and 

 pathological, and found that in both classes "cells possess a com- 

 plicated structure ; the two constituents as ordinarily distinguished 

 by us, the cell-body and the cell-nucleus, consist of a ground sub- 

 stance as well as of granules, sets of granules, and filaments ; these 

 latter may become very complicated in the more highly developed 

 forms of cells," * and has no doubt that whatever future results 

 may lead to, they will demonstrate that the structure of the cell is 

 not so simple as it is ordinarily considered to be. In the same year 

 Professor Fromman, treating of the vegetable cell, stated that he 

 had detected in growing cells a thread-like, reticulated structure, 

 both in the protoplasm and nuclei and in the chlorophyll bodies, 

 and that these not only serve to connect the nuclei and chlorophyll 

 bodies with one another, but that they pass from one cell to the 

 next through minute crevices in the cell-wall, f With regard to 

 these observations I would say, that so far as protoplasm and 

 nuclei are concerned, I have not the slightest doubt that Professor 

 Fromman is correct, as the structure described in the nuclei is most 

 satisfactorily established, and the thread-like reticulation he refers 



* " Journal Royal Micro. Soc," vol. iii., p. 50. 

 t " J. R. M. S.," vol. iii., p. 475. 



