THE NUCLEUS 63 



He further maintained that these granules could come only by division 

 of pre-existing granules. He parodied Virchow's famous phrase 

 omnis cellula e cellula into omne granulum e granulo. 



The fibrillar theory presupposes net-work or clusters of fibrils 

 known as "spongio-plasm" (sponge plasm) in contra -destinction to 

 clear or structureless matter filling in the meshes of the net to which 

 the name "hyaloplasm (glass plasm) has been given. 



In the Alveolar Theory of Butschli the author regards the so- 

 called granules as products manufactured by the hyaline protoplasm 

 and stored up as spherules so that the protoplasm between the drop- 

 lets form an alveolar partition — hence the name of the theory. 



Discussing the question as to the fluJdityLQ£_proto^asm Starling 

 regards it as "essentially :fluidm fihAracter, the form andligidity 

 which are acquired by most cells being due to chemical and physical 

 differentiation occurring in its fluids/* 



The cell consists of cytoplasm and nucleus. Cytoplasm (cell plasm) 

 is a term formulated by Kolliker in 1863. Though not so applied 

 when first used, it has come to mean the living substance of the cell 

 body other than the nucleus. Cytoplasm contains, for the most part, 

 substances apparently foreign to the cell proper. In the cytoplasm 

 of plant cells, for example, are stored up starches and oils. Most 

 nerve cells contain various shaped bodies which, it is alleged, repre- 

 sent stored up energy. The passive bodies in the cytoplasm are sup- 

 posed to represent some form of latent energy upon which the cell 

 may draw. In the cells of any green leaf are to be found spherical 

 masses which play a most important role in the lives of not only plants 

 but of animals as well. By the action of the sun's rays a chemical 

 change takes place in these bodies known to botanists as chloroplasts 

 by which carbondioxide and water are broken down, decomposed and 

 immediately synthetized into a different substance — carbohydrate, 

 starch, which will respond to the well known iodine test for starch. 

 Carbohydrate is one of the food principles. Fats are also made and 

 stored in the form of oils. In spite of the fact that the atmospheric 

 air surrounding the plant contains an abundance of free nitrogen. 

 The plant cells are unable to make use of it. Nitrogen must be first 

 combined as a nitrate, become dissolved in the soil and taken up by 

 the roots of the plants, or in the case of water plants, by special cells, 

 before the green matter in the leaf can be transformed into protein. 

 The plant, therefore, has power to make foods out of the 

 chemical elements of air and water when these elements are 

 properly combined. This is the only source of food of both plant 

 and animal and it is the result of cellular activity. 



The Nucleus: The nucleus has been recognized as a most es- 

 sential part of the cell. It not only takes part in the complex process 

 of cell division but dominates the rest of the cell. It is not my pur- 

 pose to enter upon a discussion of the morphology and physiology of 

 the animal and vegetable cell, further than it is necessary to trace the 

 various stages of the history of its revelation from its earliest recog- 

 nition to the present. The reader is referred to the numerous excel- 

 lent text books on the subject. 



