GROWTH, METAMORPHOSIS AND DEVELOPMENT 255 



ST. LEDUC calculated that a granule of potassium ferrocyanid 

 acquired 150 times its original weight when it grew, and that calcium 

 structures acquired many hundred times their original weight. 



The internal structure, also, has some similarity to natural forms. 

 They have a cellular structure as ST. LEDUC showed by microphoto- 



Fia. 41. Artificially prepared osmotic seaweed. (Made by St. Leduc.) 



graphs, Fig. 42, and as could be inferred from the way in which they 

 are formed. The solution, e.g., of copper sulphate, which is sur- 

 rounded by a membrane of copper ferrocyanid, imbibes water until 

 the membrane bursts, and some copper sulphate solution is exuded, 

 which straightway surrounds itself with a film of copper ferrocyanid, 

 and thus a new cell is formed. The process repeats itself and one 

 cell is added to another. 



It cannot be denied that the pictures reproduced have a marked 

 external resemblance to natural algae, fungi, etc., and that it is 



