BOTANY — SWINGIvE. 139 



violet light will be used for making photographs of living cells and also of 

 preparations made from fixed material. The latter lens has a resolving 

 power of 2.5. It is believed that the utilization of these microscopic object- 

 ives having a far greater resolving power than any which have been used up 

 to now will permit the investigations to be carried on to much better advan- 

 tage than has been possible heretofore. 



During the past year several articles have been published by writers who 

 accept the doctrine that there are lines of force in the living cell. At least 

 one of these, by Dr. Marcus Hartog, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society 

 of London, December i, 1905, gives some new evidence demonstrating the 

 existence of what he calls " chains of force," which may prove very helpful 

 in explaining the appearances seen in living cells. These ' ' chains of force ' ' 

 can be formed artificially if fine iron filings are placed in a viscid medium 

 between the poles of a powerful magnet. These chains have a remarkable 

 tensile strength. They resist the influence of gravity and can be pushed 

 aside with a glass rod, or swayed by currents without breaking. They are 

 more permeable to the magnetic lines of force than is the surrounding medium, 

 and consequently the medium adjoining one of these "chains of force" is 

 almost free from lines of force. 



It is confidently believed that it will shortly be established to the satisfac- 

 tion of cytologists that the cell is the seat of a hitherto unknown system of 

 forces and that these forces are one of the most important agencies at the 

 disposal of the cell in carrying on its structural work. These kinoplasmic 

 forces are as important in connection with cell division, the formation of the 

 organs of the cell, and the building up of tissues as enzymes have proven to 

 be in carrying out the physiological activities of the cell. 



