CHAPTER VI 



THE SUBSTANCE WHICH IS ALIVE IN PLANTS, AND ITS 

 MANY REMARKABLE QUALITIES 



Protoplasm 



ILREADY more than once in this book the reader has 

 met with a mention of protoplasm, — the living sub- 

 stance of plants. Besides, almost everyone has some 

 knowledge about it, or thinks that he has, though much 

 of the current information is a very long way from the truth. 

 There are even some persons who believe that protoplasm is an ab- 

 stract conception evolved by the mind of man to help explain phe- 

 nomena otherwise incomprehensible; while a few seem to cherish 

 the idea that it is one of the many inventions sought out by science 

 for undermining the faith. Yet protoplasm is not any of these 

 notions, but a real material which can be seen, handled, and sub- 

 jected to experiment. The reader will wish to know the facts 

 about this most important of substances, and here is the suitable 

 place to consider them. 



It is nowadays an educational axiom that a good understanding 

 of any scientific subject is possible only through personal contact 

 and experience with the matter in question. A great many people 

 do not comprehend this necessity, and beUeve that well-written 

 and fully-illustrated books are a sufficient, if not actually a supe- 

 rior, substitute for the laborious and time-consuming methods 

 of the field or the laboratory. When the reader meets with this 

 error he can refute it effectually by asking the objector whether 

 he considers that guide-books, even the best written and most 



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