MONERON AND MORULA. 45 



The soft slimelike plasson-substance of the body of the 

 Moneron is commonly called " protoplasma," and identified 

 with the cell-substance of ordinary animal and plant cells. 

 As, however, Eduard van Beneden, in his excellent work 

 upon the Gregarinse, first clearly pointed out, we must, 

 strictly speaking, distinguish thoroughly between the 

 plasson of cytods and the protoplasm of cells. This dis- 

 tinction is of special importance in its bearing on the history 

 of evolution. As was before incidentally mentioned, we 

 must assume two difierent stages of evolution in those ele- 

 mentary organisms, which, as formative particles or plastids, 

 represent organic individuality of the first order. The older 

 and lower stage is that of the cytods, in which the whole body 

 consists of but one kind of albuminous substance, of the 

 simplest plasson or formative material. The more recent 

 and higher stage is that of cells, in which a separation or 

 differentiation of the original plasson into two different 

 kinds of albuminous substances, into the inner cell-kernel 

 (nucleus), and the outer cell-substance (protoplasma), has 

 already taken place. 



The Monera are the simplest permanent cytods. Their 

 entire body consists merely of soft, structureless plasson. 

 However thoroughly we examine them with the help of 

 the most delicate chemical reagents and the strongest optical 

 instruments, we yet find that all the parts are completely 

 homogeneous. These Monera are, therefore, in the strictest 

 sense of the word, " organisms without organs ; " or even, in 

 a strictly philosophical sense, they might not even be called 

 "organisms," since they possess no organs, since they are 

 not composed of various particles. They can only be called 

 organisms, in so far as they are capable of exercising the 



