LIVING MATTER. 13 



transparent, and is neither quite solid nor fluid. 

 When it was first discovered it was thought to be in- 

 closed in a sort of membrane like a bladder, and it 

 was called a cell. It is now known that it has not al- 

 ways an outside membrane. It is often called proto- 

 plasm, or first formation. It is also called by the 

 better term bioplasm, or living formation. Some re- 

 cent discoveries with the microscope render it likely 

 that the real living matter in each cell, or piece of 

 bioplasm, is arranged like a net-work, and communi- 

 cates with neighboring cells so as to make a continu- 

 ous living structure throughout the body, either of 

 plant or animal. 



Those who have access to a good microscope may 

 find an example of this living matter, or bioplasm, in 

 the white blood-cell. Prick your finger, and put a 

 small drop of blood, about the size of a full " stop " 

 printer's type upon the thin glass cover of a mi- 

 croscopic slide, then quickly put the cover in its 

 place, so that the drop may spread by capillary attrac- 

 tion, and observe the globules in the field of view of 

 the instrument. In about every three hundred of the 

 ordinary red blood-disks you will see one of the white 

 disks. If you keep it warm by a heated stage, or if 

 you examine the blood of a cold-blooded animal, as a 

 frog, instead of your own, you will be able to see its 

 peculiar motions and other phenomena. 



3. From such simple, jelly-like particles all animals 



