PROTISTS AND DISEASE 



CHAPTER I 



FOUNDATIONS 



CIVILISATION still expects accredited instruction upon the 

 real nature of cancer and other tumours ; smallpox and 

 other fevers. 



If these capital diseases were but fugitive discomforts, 

 it would still be of interest, even of importance, to inquire 

 into their causes for the purpose of adding to existing 

 biological knowledge. 



These facts demand that we review the rudiments of 

 our biological information, and that we convert as much of 

 it as circumstances require or allow into knowledge by 

 personal practical work. 



Protists. We need to know some very primitive forms 

 of life, some of those that are conveniently grouped in our 

 minds under the designation of protists. This name is not 

 now used in its original sense as invented by Haeckel, 

 synonymous with " Monera," to apply to a proposed new 

 kingdom consisting of organisms devoid of nuclei ; but as 

 one designation for the two overlapping sub-kingdoms or 



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