Chapter X 



HISTORY OF THE ATTEMPT TO SUBORDINATE 

 THE PROTISTA TO THE CELL-THEORY 



T T is important to learn how the attempt to subordinate 

 ■^protozoans and other protista to cells has fared in the 

 history of knowledge of these minute organisms. It was a 

 genuine surprise to me, as I imagine it may be to many 

 zoologists orthodoxly drilled in the cell-theory, to find how 

 much dissent there has been and still is among the able 

 investigators of the protozoa, from this mode of treating 

 the little creatures. 



Clash Between Ehrenberg and Dujardm a Specicd Case of 

 the Conflict Between Organismal and Elementalist 



Conceptions 



The erroneous appraisement by many recent authors of 

 the work of Ehrenberg will serve as a starting point for 

 what needs attention under this head. Few names are bet- 

 ter known in protozoology than C. G. Ehrenberg, whose 

 monumental work. Die Infusionstliierchen als volkomniene 

 Organismen, holds some such place in protozoology as Lin- 

 naeus' Systema Naturae holds in zoology and botany gen- 

 erally. Yet it is the custom of most writers to regard it 

 as a great depository of facts, but antiquated and er- 

 roneous in its interpretations. The view expressed by Locy 

 is typical : "His publication was almost simultaneous with 

 the announcement of the cell-theory (1838-1839), the ac- 

 ceptance of which was destined to overthrow his conception 



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