THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



elementary organism from cell-nucleus and proto- 

 plasm" (the primitive organs of the cell) is indispensable. 

 These and other writers suppose that the nucleus has 

 been overlooked in the protoplasm of the monera I have 

 described. This may be true for one section of them; 

 but they say nothing about the other section, in which 

 the nucleus is certainly lacking. To this class belong 

 the remarkable chromacea {phycochroniacea or cyanophy- 

 cea), and especially the simplest forms of these, the 

 chroococcacea (chroococcus, aphanocapsa, glceocapsa, etc.). 

 These plasmodomous (plasma-forming) monera, which 

 live at the very frontier of the organic and inorganic 

 worlds, are by no means uncommon or particularly 

 difficult to find; on the contrar3^ they are found every- 

 where, and are easy to observe. Yet they are generally 

 ignored because they do not square with the prevailing 

 dogma of the cell. 



I ascribe this special significance to the chromacea 

 among all the monera I have instanced because I take 

 them to be the oldest phyletically, and the most primi- 

 tive of all living organisms known to us. In particular 

 their very simple forms correspond exactly to all the 

 theoretic claims which monistic biology can make as to 

 the transition from the inorganic to the organic. Of the 

 chroococcacea, the chroococcus, gloeocapsa, etc., are 

 found throughout the world; they form thin, usually 

 bluish -green coats or jelly-like deposits on damp rocks, 

 stones, bark of trees, etc. When a small piece of this jelly 

 is examined carefully under a powerful microscope, noth- 

 ing is seen but thousands of tiny blue-green globules of 

 plasma, distributed irregularly in the common structure- 

 less mass. In some species we can detect a thin struct- 

 ureless membrane enclosing the homogeneous particle of 

 plasm; its origin can be explained on purely physical 

 principles by "superficial energy" — like the firmer sur- 

 face-layer of a drop of rain, or of a globule of oil swim- 



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