Cells of Plants. 



75 



composed as " little bags ;" these have a particular name applied 

 to them, and are called cells, which signifies small chambers, 

 since0n fact, they are little chambers in the interior of the plant 



Fig. a. 



Fiff. 4. 



Slice of the rind of the stem of Bur-Reed (Sparganium Tamnsum,'), composed of starlike cells with 

 wide interspaces, magnified 200 diameters. 



like the chambers or cells in a honeycomb. Unlike the cham- 

 bers of a honeycomb, however, or chambers in a building, they 

 are not mere hollows in a firm 

 substance which forms partiti(ms 

 between them, they are really sepa- 

 rate, closed chambers, each having 

 its own distinct wall, so that the 

 partition between any two is al- 

 ways double, and the single cells 

 may even be separated from one 

 another. 



The substance of the potato, 

 which seems solid to the naked 

 eye, appears, in a slice under 

 the microscope, as a mass of 

 vesicles or membranous bags 

 (filled with starch), and if a j)icce 

 of potato is allowed to lie in water 

 for a day or two, until it Ijcgins to 

 soften and decay, on taking some 



of the soft portion and placing it Cells from a macerated rolali, alniobt .-cpa- 

 1 .1 • ,1 rat^d, ami showiiiir Stnnh-granulcs iiiblde, 



under the microscope, we see the magnimd 200 diameters. 

 cells separated from each other, 



