PLAXT CELLS AND LIVING MATTER. 95 



(see fig. 4). On the outer surface the epidermal bodies 



Fig. 4. — Cells from flower of Norlinbergia, stained with gold 

 chloride. 



exhibited a distinctly reticular structure. The hairs showed 

 dark violet granules and clusters of granules in the interior of 

 the compartments ; these granules had radiating offshoots 

 which formed a network, with frequently distinctly granular 

 thickened points of intersection, as represented in fi"-. 5. 

 There could be no doubt that this was the positive ima^-e of 

 the structure that was demonstrated by the silver staining in a 

 negative manner as depicted in fig. 3. In some, especially in 

 small hairs, the dark violet reticulum in the compartment was 

 very dense. Frequently, delicate violet filaments pierced the 

 transverse septa of neighbouring compartments and intercon- 

 nected the reticula and bioplasson formations in their interiors, 

 as seen in fig. 5. 



But the most complete proof of the existence of living matter 

 within the cellulose walls of plant " cells " I obtained in 

 sections of the stems of leaves of the common india-rubber 

 plant (Ficus elastica), a silver-stained specimen of which 



