335 
Oisr THE DIFFICULTIES IN IDENTIFYING MANY OF 
THE LOWER KINDS OF ALGH]. 
BY J. BRAXTON HICKS^ M.D.^ P.R.S., F.L.S._, &C. 

S upposing any one were to endeavour to persuade tLe 
botanical readers of tbis Journal, that from looking at a 
single green cell of any leaf under the microscope he could 
tell the plant to which it belonged, and that without the neces- 
sity of inquiring into the modifications it might undergo in 
different positions of the plant, and at various periods of its 
existence ; there are few at all versed in microscopical know- 
ledge who would not at once recognize the impossibility of the 
case, and the want of depth in the declaration. 
And yet for many years this to a great degree has been 
the statement made with regard to the simple forms of 
vegetable life, consisting of a single cell; I mean to those 
forms which, from having been supposed the lowest forms of 
vegetable life, are called Protophytes,^^ Confervoids, or lower 
Algao. 
They are composed, for the most part, of only one cell, of 
varying forms and colour; and are capable of growing; of 
dividing ; or segmenting into many parts, and that in many 
directions, both round a common centre, through their long 
axis, or through their short one. The contents of the cell 
are also capable of resolving themselves by subdivision into 
numerous parts, not in any specific direction as above, by 
which there is formed a group of small cells within the parent 
cell-wall. 
Sometimes the parts separate from each other at once, some- 
times they remain in contact for a variable period, whereby masses 
of cells are formed, more or less connected, but without any 
definite arrangement or mutual dependence; so that any portion 
being separated is capable of continuing its growth without 
suffering injury. The size of the individual cells varies con- 
siderably. From my own observations it seems impossible to 
limit the extent to which they may decrease by repeated seg- 
mentation. It may be carried to fine points, even seen under 
high microscopic powers, in which condition they have been 
called Granules^^ or Molecules.-’^ These small fragments 
may, however, grow till they attain the size of their origin. 
