3 



Living Matter and CelL 



No one has ever found anything aHve apart from matter. We see the 

 evidences of matter in the protoplasm of every plant and animal: sunflowers 

 turn toward the sun; bees gather about nectar; the ticket line moves toward 

 the show. All of these beings are composed of matter uniquely organized in 

 protoplasm and active in an equally unique process of living. Protoplasm 

 reproduces itself; like produces like but never duplicates itself. A cat has 

 kittens, not squirrels. Her kittens grow and they have kittens, and so, on and 

 on, cats and kittens. None of them repeats its mother or father or grand- 

 parents but each one shows its origin. 



Protoplasm occurs in cells. The cell is a sample of the complete basic 

 organization and activities of protoplasm. It becomes more and more evident 

 that nonliving and living states blend together since the most complex protein 

 molecules have certain characteristics of protoplasm. The submicroscopic 

 gene that carries hereditary qualities is believed to be a protein molecule 

 that, like a living organism, reproduces itself. Whether viruses are alive or 

 not is still debated; it appears however that they have many of the properties 

 of living matter and are very active. Protoplasm came into being in a very 

 remote time but even now in the nucleoproteins there may still be a twilight 

 zone of originating protoplasm. 



Protoplasm 



General Features. We seldom see naked protoplasm. Generally we see 

 and touch the dead remains of cells in the outer layer of skin, scales, feathers, 

 and hair. The softness of a kitten's fur is all due to dead cells. Most animals 

 shed such dead cells seasonally; human molting or shedding goes on the year 

 round. No plant or animal is entirely alive. Cells contain nonliving as well 

 as living structures; freckles are groups of cells holding lifeless pigment that 

 has been deposited within them. Protoplasm looks fundamentally similar 

 wherever it occurs. A dozen cells flecked from the lining of one's own mouth 



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