DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 29 



From 1670 to 1830, or more than a 

 century and a half, the cell was known 

 mainly as a saccate body, resembling a 

 hollow tube, and became the subject 

 of more or less wild speculations. A 

 wider interest for the substance and 

 nature of the cell was evoked in the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century by 

 the works of Brisseau de Mirbel, Trevir- 

 anus, Moldenhaver and several others. 

 Many different parts began to be dis- 

 tinguished within the cells, such as 

 membrane, protoplasm, chlorophyll, etc. 

 These parts were later found to be as 

 many organs in the cell performing 

 different functions, which are at pres- 

 ent to some extent defined. The cell 

 previously considered as a saccate body 

 proved to constitute a being endowed 

 with organs, a living organism. 



According to modern cytology, the 

 cell is a living individual; an elemen- 

 tary organism. Although these beings 

 are so exceedingly minute that the 

 naked eye can observe them only in 

 combinations of thousands and millions, 



