302 WALTER GARDINER. 



Some recent Researches on the Continuity of 

 the Protoplasm through the Walls of Vege- 

 table Cells. 



By 



liV alter Gar«liiier, B.y%., 



Late Scholar of Clare College, Cambridge. 



(Prom the Jodrell Laboratory, Hoyal Gardens, Kew). 



Having been for some time engaged in investigating the 

 subject of the continuity of protoplasm through the walls of 

 vegetable cells^ it was with no small degree of interest that I 

 read Dr. Elsberg's paper^ in the hope of finding something 

 that would be of value for my research. In this, however, I 

 was disappointed, and having carefully gone over his paper, 

 and worked through his methods, I resolved to pubhsh my 

 results, believing it to be of extreme importance in a subject 

 such as he treats of, that his statements should, if correct, re- 

 ceive every confirmation and support, or if any mistake had 

 arisen, that such mistakes should as quickly as possible be 

 rectified. 



There are several points in his paper that I should like to 

 touch upon before giving my own conclusions. 



As Dr. Elsberg at the outset admits that he is not a botanist, 

 it is perhaps not surprising to find a want of accuracy in 

 his botanical terminology. Tbus, he talks of leaf paren- 

 chyma cells as " presenting blunt polygons separated from 

 one another by a shining rim of cellulose," meaning, I 

 suppose, polygonal cells with thin cell walls. He then pro- 

 ceeds to rechristen protoplasm, and proposes to substitute for 



^ ' Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci.,' No. Ixxxix, Jan. 1883. 



