THE CELL 65 



sub-heads or skilled workers who are located in the 

 middle of the body of the cell. These skilled workers 

 have charge of all work in general. They seem to be the 

 part of the cell which contains the power, knowledge and 

 skill to perform the different kinds of work which the 

 cell is required to do in order to exist. These specifically 

 skilled workers located in the middle of the body of the 

 cell are called the nucleus, and appear to be not one 

 individual, but a very large colony of individuals. That 

 this part of the cell called the nucleus is the part which 

 has the power and knowledge of how to build the differ- 

 ent structures in life, is shown by the fact that if this is 

 destroyed, the cell cannot do any more work nor repro- 

 duce itself nor feed itself. In the same manner an animal 

 is made helpless and is generally destroyed by the re- 

 moval of its head. Besides the body, head, sub-head or 

 skilled worker, it also has some sort of covering and a 

 number of other special organs, not yet understood. 



The cells are not all of the same size. Some are more 

 highly organized than others and very likely contain a 

 larger number of the primordial cells of which they are 

 composed, and other special purpose cells. The smallest 

 are the bacteria ; then come the fungi and plant cells ; the 

 largest are the animal building cells and those similar to 

 them who live separate lives in the water and do not 

 build colonies like plants and animals. My school book 

 on botany describes these smaller cells such as bacteria, 

 plant cells and fungi in the following language : 



"It would be hard to imagine a simpler plant, and the 

 plant kingdom can be thought of as beginning with in- 

 dividuals consisting of one green cell and reproducing 

 by division. This one cell, however, absorbs material, 

 makes food, assimilates it, conducts respiration, etc., in 

 fact, does all the work of living carried on by plants with 



