PROTOI'LASM 55 



nuclei, and (jtlici- microscopically visible specializations witiiin the 

 protoplast. 



Protoplasm is therefore more than a mere mixture: it is a delicately 

 balanced organized system of substances combined in certain proportions 

 and patterns and interacting harmoniously in a consistent manner through 

 long and varied life cycles. Life is the resultant of all these amazingly 

 well-correlated activities: it is a property not of this or that component, 

 but of the system as a whole. The subject of this chapter is one that 

 should interest not merely the cytologist, but every person interested in 

 his relation to the rest of nature, for protoplasm is the physical basis of 

 his being as well as of every other living thing. 



