THE CELL 75 



ing that we are looking at our maker through a telescope 

 made by him, the eye. It is no wonder that man, who 

 was built and guided by the intelligence of the cell, was 

 able to organize himself into a higher civilized life, be- 

 cause his builder had gone through all those experiences 

 before. The customs, laws, virtues political and eco- 

 nomic, now practised by civilized man have been practised 

 by the cell for the past million years. 



Before I go any further I shall quote some more pas- 

 sages by Prof. Wilson as to the general appearance, in- 

 ner actions, and organs of the cell. The word protoplasm 

 used now and then in reference to the cell is an old word 

 which now is practically meaningless. However, as nearly 

 as I can see, it means the whole cell. The following is 

 by Prof. Wilson : "A minute analysis of the various parts 

 of the cell leads to the conclusion that all cell organs, 

 whether temporary or permanent are local differentia- 

 tions of a common structural basis. Temporary organs 

 such as cilia or pseudopodia are formed out of this basis, 

 persist for a time and finally merge their identity in the 



common basis again The facts point 



toward the conclusion that the power of division not only 

 of the cell organs but also of the cell as a whole may have 

 its root in a like power on the part of more elementary 

 masses or units of which the structural basis is itself 



built If such bodies exist they must, 



however, in their primary form, lie beyond the present 



limits of the microscope The phenomena 



of cell division show, however, that the dividing substance 

 tends to differentiate itself into several orders of visible 

 morphological aggregates At the bot- 

 tom of the series there must be masses that cannot be 

 further split up without loss of their characteristic prop- 

 erties and which form the elementary morphological 



