118 M. L. Gavreau on the Functions oj 



functions, but in the movements and principal functions of their 

 nitrogenous matters. 



These movements are visible in all plants in process of growth, 

 but exert no marked action upon their cell-walls, because these 

 last are too resistant. However, in Oscillarice. (some of which 

 are elongated in the form of worms, whilst others are coiled in 

 spirals) we meet with novel conditions of existence, by the 

 operation of which the living matter of those plants, without 

 any perceptible change of nature, subsists without the presence 

 of that cuticle or epiderm which limits their motions. Suppose, 

 for example, an Oscillaria to be enveloped in a more resistant 

 cellulose coat, and we shall realize to our minds the presence 

 of all the organic elements of a ligneous fibre. Or suppose, 

 again, a similar covering imposed upon Amoeba diffluens, and we 

 shall recognize in it all the elements of a parenchymatous cell. 

 Granting that the nitrogenous matters within the cells of plants 

 possess the property of motion and of reproduction like animals, 

 do they, let us next inquire, partake those other functions which 

 belong to the latter ? 



The proteine matter of plants, which serves for the development 

 of that of animals, has hitherto not been completely separated 

 from the organic and inorganic elements with which it is asso- 

 ciated; but we have elsewhere shown that it tends to isolate 

 itself in seeds containing earthy and alkaline phosphates. 



On analyzing the gluten obtained from cereals we discover the 

 same animal and mineral substances, very little modified, as are 

 found in our own tissues. If this same gluten be brought into 

 contact with a globule of yeast, it becomes entirely transformed 

 into a mass of globules resembling those of the fungus, which is 

 itself composed, with the exception of its scarcely visible enve- 

 loping lamina of cellulose, of the elements of gluten, and in the 

 same proportions. 



On cautiously removing the endochrome of the merithalli of 

 Chara, the same chemical compounds, besides the fatty matters 

 and the traces of starch, are discoverable. And, indeed, the fact 

 seems well established that there is no difference between the com- 

 position of the living matter of plants and that of animals. 



It is, notwithstanding, true that the proteine matters of plants 

 are constantly impregnated with cellulose, whilst those of animals 

 are only exceptionally so, as in the example of Tunicata and 

 Diselmis. 



In the views we propound regarding the vital movements and 

 the chemical composition of the proteine material of plants, it is 

 not our intention to maintain that animals and plants are orga- 

 nized in the same manner, and have the same sensibility ; the 



