126 The Unity of the Organism 



omizes his results so far as concerns his understanding of 

 the nature of the cell. But while Schultze's central aim in 

 his essay was clearly to answer his own question, "Was is 

 das Wichtigste an einer Zelle?" the nature of that which is 

 the "Wichtigste" concerned him greatly although seconda- 

 rily; and for the topic now occupying us, the author's con- 

 clusions under this head are of the utmost interest. 



(a) Cell Nucleus Distinct from Protoplasm But Both 

 Nucleus and Protoplasm Essential to Life of Cell 



In the first place, it cannot be too strongly emphasized 

 that Schultze did not consider the cell nucleus to be proto- 

 plasm in any sense: "To the conception of a cell there be- 

 long two kinds [of things] a nucleus and protoplasm, and 

 both must be division products of corresponding parts of 

 another cell. Both constituents are equally important. A 

 disappearance of one, like that of the other, destroys the 

 conception of the cell." 1S 



This unqualified recognition of nucleus and protoplasm as 

 "equally important" appears over and over again in the 

 essay, so even from this point of view it is obvious that 

 Schultze could not have subscribed to the conception that 

 "protoplasm is the physical basis of life." For him proto- 

 plasm could be no more this basis than the nucleus, and the 

 nucleus was not protoplasm. The expression which comes 

 nearer than anything else in the essay to the Huxleyan 

 notion reads: "The cell leads an exclusive (abgeschlossenes) 

 life, as one may say, the bearer of which is again preem- 

 inently the protoplasm, but there falls to the nucleus also 

 a role at least as significant although as yet not more defi- 

 nitely specifiable." 



This seeming ascription to the protoplasm of the place 

 of first importance in the life of the cell in no way contra- 

 dicts the conception of correlative essentiality of the nucleus. 



