6 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



perhaps novel mode of progressive study will, I 

 venture to hope, commend itself to my readers, as a 

 means of gaining accessions to the rank of botanical 

 students. 



An ample glossary, moreover, will assist the reader 

 unfamiliar with new terms, and thus aided he will, 

 it is hoped, turn for further information to the works 

 quoted as helpful in this study. 



2. Protoplasm, the Cell, the Tissues, the 

 Organs of Plants and their Work. The 

 Elaborating and Transporting Agents of 

 Food Materials, etc. 



A plant consists of a number of cells and vessels. 

 The idea of a cell was derived from that of cork, 

 which has a structure like honeycomb, where a series 

 of hexagonal cells is placed side by side, as in the 

 erect, prismatic, columnar structure, known as the 

 Giant's Causeway, in Ireland. But in a plant body 

 the cells are not all parallel, and have various 

 arrangements. 



The cell has a wall of cellulose, etc., and within it 

 is protoplasm, as in a human cell. Structurally the 

 cell is the unit ; physiologically the protoplasm 

 within or the protoplasts are the basal units. 



Each protoplast is made up of the cytoplasm or 

 main substance with a differentiated structure, the 

 nucleus, in the centre or at the side. 



Within the nucleus are wrapped up the mysteries 



