STUDIES ON THE PLANT CELL.— I. 



BRADLEY MOORE DAVIS. 



Introduction. 



This is the first of a series of papers that will follow one 

 another in the pages of the American Naturalist. They will 

 describe the chief structures in plant cells and the most 

 important events in their hfe histories, largely from the pomt of 

 view of the morphologist and student of developmental processes. 

 Research upon the plant cell has entirely outrun the general 

 accounts that may be found in several botanical text books and 

 in certain works of prominent zoologists. We shall attempt to 

 give a general survey of the subject in its present state with 

 references to the most important papers ; but this is not to be an 

 exhaustive account of a literature that is already ver> large and 

 which can probablv be treated far more satisfactoril) scvcia 

 years from now when it has passed through the critici.tn that 

 time will give in a field of very active botanical investigation. 



American botanists have reason to be proud of the achieve- 

 ments of their countrymen in research upon the morphology and 



physiology of the plant cell, for 



much of the best work ( 



. has come from them. This in itself has been a great stim- 

 ulus to the writer to prepare these brief accounts uhich he lopcs 

 will assist the general botanist to a clearer undcr^tanchng o Mc 

 progress in this field. They will also serve to tnntiast t u pPj^ 

 toplasmic activities among plants with those ot tlu '.^^ 

 which has been so well treated in several foiei^n uoi > an< 

 English by Wilson's The Cell in Development awi Inlu / / am . 



The author will feel especially gratified if these pai)c. > sho 

 help to change an attitude towards investigations '^"^"^ 1 ' 

 cell that is unfortunately too prevalent among botanist.s. 1 here 

 is a tendency to regard cell studies as a ^^O-Penal fi c^d 

 botanical research with elaborate technique which the average 



