THE ALG& 



of Sargassum in the sea beyond the Azores frightened 

 Columbus. From their comparatively simple con- 

 struction, though belonging to the Chlorophyllian 

 plants, the processes of protoplasmic movement and 

 structure can be studied in the algae most advan- 

 tageously. 



The popular, though erroneous, conception that 

 animal life is essentially distinguished from vegetable 

 life by the former only having the power of volun- 

 tary motion is absolutely disproved when the growth 

 of an alga is observed. "The resemblance that the 

 earlier microscopists saw in the inner structure of the 

 plant tissues to the waxen cells of a honeycomb gave 

 birth to the terms 'cell ' and ' cellular tissue/ and to 

 the idea long prevalent that this cell formation was 

 itself the creative, formative and self-productive tissue 

 that constituted life. It is now known that it is not 

 the body of the cell, but its slimy, colorless contents, 

 the protoplasm, which is active in its self-created cell, 

 and must be looked upon as the carrier of life, as the 

 living part itself." The term cell has become so 

 imbedded in our language that we now speak of a 

 naked cell, meaning thereby the protoplasm when it 

 is not a cell when it is devoid of an envelope, and is 

 simply a drop or minute portion of shapeless, jelly- 

 like matter, but which moves and is alive. It may 

 form a portion of its substance into a denser exterior, 



239 



