THE NEW CELL DOCTRINE 



sense. A further diflSculty arises from the observation that 

 in the nucleus also a substance can be found with peculiari- 

 ties like the protoplasm. Thus it happens that with the 

 enlargement of our knowledge we have become more and 

 more uncertain what we can properly designate with this 

 word "protoplasm." It corresponds better to the present 

 condition of science if we say that a ceU consists of nucleus 

 and a cell body, because we thus restate clearly our direct 

 observation. Nevertheless a biologist would hardly like to 

 lay aside the word protoplasm, in part because it has such a 

 great historic significance. 



As is known, cells were discovered by the botanists, and 

 first by the Englishman Hook, and they received from botan- 

 ists the name cell, which is completely suitable for the form 

 first observed, for in many plants one sees the cells as small 

 spaces, which are separated from one another by partitions. 

 These spaces were designated simply as cells. Later it was rec- 

 ognized that the essential thing was not the arrangement of 

 the partitions, but the content of each ceU. This content is 

 protoplasm mixed with water and containing a nucleus. Two 

 eminent German investigators have furnished us with a 

 completely new conception of the cell. Wilhelm Klihne and 

 Max Schulze have proven that the partitions are unessential 

 and that we may have a complete ceU without them. Thus a 

 new conception arose, namely, that a cell consists of proto- 

 plasm and nucleus. The great Enghsh biologist, Huxley, who 

 appreciated the importance of the new views of Kiihne and 

 Schulze, has presented them in a lecture to which he gave the 

 title, "The Physical Basis of Life." Huxley's presentation is 

 so clear and comprehensible that his readers cannot fail to ap- 

 preciate the full significance of the views presented. Huxley's 

 lecture occasioned great excitement among thinkers in Eng- 



