ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 113 



power could be used bacteria would be seen to be mostly 

 multicellular organisms which, by division and sub- 

 division, proliferate themselves in much the same way as 

 some of the species of confervoidese. 



" In all probability," remarks Massee, in The Evolution 

 of Plant Life, " nuclei in a primitive state of differentiation 

 are present in all plant cells. The exact function of the 

 nucleus is not known, but judging from its almost universal 

 occurrence, and its behaviour in connection with the 

 formation of new cells, it must be supposed to perform 

 some important function." 



With that view we must all be in agreement. Without 

 the nucleus cell-reproduction could not occur. 



If that is so, however, and we suppose bacteria to 

 multiply themselves by the exercise of some electro- 

 chemical function, we must draw a line of demarcation 

 between aerobic and anaerobic micro-organisms. The 

 former need only contain some substance electro-positive 

 to oxygen for electrical action to occur, whereas the 

 latter should be self-contained ; that is to say, they should 

 be provided with both positive and negative materials, 

 requiring only suitable liquid to excite them. 



Those who doubt the existence of a network in proto- 

 plasm would do well to examine, for example, the naked 

 protoplasm of a myxogaster (a yellow-coloured saprophyte, 

 generally met with on decaying wood), and the structure of 

 a grain of wheat and of rice, with special regard to the 

 arrangement and insulation of the starch cells. The same 

 phenomenon, in a modified form, will be observed ; and 

 if vegetable and animal physiology were always studied 

 together many other doubts and perplexities might be 

 resolved. 



I am not concerned with enzyme action in its chemical 

 aspect, but certain facts in connection with it are not 

 without significance. The action is intracellular ; a rise 



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