Chapter X 



HISTORY OF THE ATTEMPT TO SUBORDINATE 

 THE PROTISTA TO THE CELL-THEORY 



T T is important to learn how the attempt to subordinate 

 ■•-protozoans and other protista to cells has fared in the 

 history of knowledge of these minute organisms. It was a 

 genuine surprise to me, as I imagine it may be to many 

 zoologists orthodoxly drilled in the cell-theory, to find how 

 much dissent there has been and still is among the able 

 investigators of the protozoa, from this mode of treating 

 the little creatures. 



Clash Between Ehrenberg and Du jar din a Special Case of 

 the Conflict Between Organismal and Elementalist 



Conceptions 



The erroneous appraisement by many recent authors of 

 the work of Ehrenberg will serve as a starting point for 

 what needs attention under this head. Few names are bet- 

 ter known in protozoology than C. G. Ehrenberg, whose 

 monumental work, Die Infusionsthierchen als I'olkommene 

 Organismen, holds some such place in protozoology as Lin- 

 naeus' Systema Naturae holds in zoology and botany gen- 

 erally. Yet it is the custom of most writers to regard it 

 as a great depository of facts, but antiquated and er- 

 roneous in its interpretations. The view expressed by Locy 

 is typical : "His publication was almost simultaneous with 

 the announcement of the cell-theory (1838-1839), the ac- 

 ceptance of which was destined to overthrow his conception 



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