96 BIOPLASM 



of bioplasm destructive of healthy life and capable of 



infinite multiplication results. 



. 



BIOPLASM OF ANIMALS AND MAN IN HEALTH. 



Bioplasm of Amceba. Among the lower, simplest 

 living forms known are some very simple organisms 

 consisting apparently of transparent structureless 

 semifluid material. Seldom indeed as much as the 

 r^V Q. of an inch in diameter, they vary much in size 

 down to particles of extreme minuteness and tenuity 

 only just visible under the highest power yet made, 

 equalling about 5> diameters. These masses, 

 apparently composed almost entirely of living matter, 

 can move in any part, and in any direction (Figs. 29, 

 30, plate V.). Portions of the seemingly viscid or semi- 

 fluid material may protrude in advance of the rest of 

 the mass, and coming in contact with protrusions 

 from other parts, join these, and thus may result a 

 ring or a series of rings. The protrusion may be 

 withdrawn and the whole assume the appearance of a 

 perfectly smooth globular mass. 



Such naked masses of living bioplasm or germinal 

 matter may apply themselves to foreign bodies, and 

 if these are small, completely invest them, so that the 

 latter are at length seen in the interior of the mass 

 embedded in its very substance. It is in this way 

 that these simple forms of life are capable of effecting 

 the solution of certain substances, and afterwards ap- 



