XVIII 



THE UNIVERSAL STRUCTURE OF LIVING 

 THINGS 



WITHOUT doubt, the greatest and most important 

 statement which can be made about living 

 things is that they are either separate minute particles 

 of living matter or (more commonly) are built up by 

 thousands of such minute particles which have in each 

 individual animal and plant originated from a single 

 such particle (the fertilised germ), by its division into two, 

 and the subsequent division of these two each into two, 

 and of the four so produced each into two and so on, 

 until by repeated division into two, millions of corpuscles, 

 hanging together as one mass, are the result. 



The particles of living matter are spoken of as " cells " 

 for a very curious reason, to which I will revert. The 

 living matter is called " protoplasm " (primitive or funda- 

 mental slime). A " cell " in the language of micro- 

 scopists means a corpuscle or more or less rounded or 

 irregularly shaped particle of protoplasm. Cells com- 

 monly vary in size from ^ooth to -gij-gth of an inch in 

 breadth, and may be much larger. Protoplasm the 

 living substance of "cells" is a slimy body, almost 

 liquid, but yet tenacious. It is transparent, but clouded 

 by fine granules, and can often be seen with a very high 

 power of the microscope to consist of more and of less 



