262 American Quarterly Alicroscopical Journal. 



but what I believe can be demonstrated. The nucleus is the nerve- 

 center, and must exist at some period of cell growth. From it 

 nerve-force proceeds to superintend the building of the cell-walls, 

 the storing of protoplasm, the establishment of new nerve-cen- 

 ters, and the keeping up of communication with these outposts, 

 until they are independent. The cell-wall is the secretory 

 apparatus. Osmosis goes on here as in the tissues of all the 

 secretory bodies. The " cell-contents " are various and uncertain. 

 They may be effete or formed matters, as chlorophyll, which is 

 nutrient ; or nucleoli, around which protective material is thrown, 

 thus forming spores. 



A spore is a cell in a general sense, but it differs from a large 

 majority of what we call cells, in this : that it is endowed with the 

 power of growth, but does not grow itself ; for it has no nucleus 

 or cell-wall. It is a center of growth, and forms organs out of 

 inorganic matter ; but it can do nothing until freed of the 

 protective matter that the parent cell threw about it, and this 

 disinthrallment is brought about by conditions needless to mention 

 here. As a grain of wheat cannot grow unless the matter that 

 surrounds the embryo is dissolved, so the spore cannot germinate 

 until set free from its case, or bindings, by the application of some 

 external force. It then manufactures the machinery by which the 

 structure is to be built, sets it in motion ; and, having served this 

 purpose of its existence, dies. And so with each cell that succeeds 

 it — they serve their place and ofifice, pass through the stages of 

 nucleolus, nucleus, and cell-walls, and are built into the structure, 

 or cast aside as debris. 



We speak of nerve-centers or nerve fibers, and say that a nerve 

 is subjected to "excitability" on the application of a "stimulus." 

 A nerve-center is a ganglion, or little brain, for receiving and 

 sending out nerve energy. Here the nervous force accumulates, 

 and on demand, is sent out along the fibers to tlie tissues where 

 motion is required. It is simply an apparatus, then, for generating 

 motion and telegraphing it from one point to another. Nerve 

 force is thus conveyed by " a wave of stimulation " along the fiber 

 to any distance. 



May we not, appropriately, call a spore a nerve ganglion, 

 consisting perhaps of a single cell, and ready, when it falls into a 

 proper medium, to establish other centers and lines between them ? 

 A glance at some of the swarm-spores of Algae and Fungi, with 

 their actively vibrating cilia and swift movements in the water 



