THE ORGANIC CELL 
9 
THE ORGANIC CELL 
Part I. — Its Methods of Division and Status in the 
Process of Heredity 
By E. Wynstone-Waters, E.R.S.Edin., &c., Late Senior 
Demonstrator of Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons , 
Edinburgh 
The term * cell ’ is a biological misnomer, which, however, 
shows little sign of dying a natural death. Literally speaking 
a cell means a hollow chamber, bounded by distinct walls. 
It is only rarely we come across such hollow cells in organic 
life, the cell as found in Nature consisting essentially of a 
mass of protoplasm, a substance well described by Huxley 
as ‘ the physical basis of life ’ and admitted by all competent 
thinkers to be the field in which all vital phenomena are exhibited. 
However much cells may differ in appearance according to 
the particular tissue or organ they may go to form, they still 
possess features common to them all. In the higher organisms 
we have a composite structure built up of millions of units 
(cells). 
There is, however, at the very bottom of the organic ladder 
a whole series of lowly forms, both plant and animal, consisting 
of a single cell, the type of which is the same as in the cells 
which go to build up the complex higher multicellular forms. 
Examples of these one-celled organisms will be found in 
the infusoria, diatoms, and bacteria. 
In these lower forms all the phenomena of life are exhibited 
by the single cell, while in the higher forms certain groups 
of cells perform certain definite functions, giving rise to the 
‘ physiological division of labour ’ by which alone can be 
attained the most perfect exhibition of vital phenomena. To 
understand the complexity of cells forming the multicellular 
organism, one must go back to the single cell. 
4 It is to the cell that the study of every bodily function 
sooner or later drives us. In the muscle-cell lies the problem 
of the heart-beat, and that of muscular contraction; in the 
gland-cell reside the causes of secretion ; and the secrets of 
