Attempt to Subordinate VrotUta to CeU-Theor?/ SOT 



described as the genus itself. In otlier words, sound scien- 

 tific procedure requires that if amoebae and wliite bhxxl 

 coi'puscles are classed together as cells, their differences 

 must at the same time be given full recognition. If tliis be 

 done, among the many differences that will come to record 

 are sure to be this: amoebae are organisms, each individual 

 being complete and independent in itself, while blood cor- 

 puscles occur only as elements of the blood and lyin|)li of 

 other organisms. This is a simple statement of fact in the 

 interest of pure description. But notice what it reveals. 

 Amoeba appears in a two-fold role, that of cell and that of 

 organism. But cells of the metazoa are, as we have seen, 

 subordinate to the organisms to which they belong. What, 

 consequently, are we to conclude as to the relation (jf the 

 cell of the amoeba to the organism amoeba.'* Manifestly 

 that the one cell of the amoeba is no less subordinate to the 

 organism amoeba than the many cells of a worm are sub- 

 ordinate to the organism worai. 



While this is merely a presentation of the logic of the 

 situation, it corresponds to the objective facts of the pro- 

 tista, and I think must be admitted by any one who will 

 weigh fully and candidly what has been presented in the 

 section on that subject. 



So much for that part of the reformation of the cell- 

 theory, in its application to the ])rotista, which concerns the 

 subordination of cells to organisms in these as well as in 

 metazoa and metaphyta. 



It remains now to see what can be done with the other 

 aspect of the reformation, namely, that of securing for the 

 concept organism greater definiteness than it has hitherto 

 had. For reasons partly valid and partly not valid the 

 terms "organism," "organism as a whole" and "organiza- 

 tion" are believed by some biologists to be too vague to be 

 scientifically useful. Indeed, a few good authors charge that 

 these terms have a mystical implication. In reply to this 



