It is a soft, gelatinous mass of
yellowish color, sometimes measuring several inches in length.
The plasmodium[2] has been chemically analyzed, though not in a state
of absolute purity. The table of Reinke and Rodewold gives an idea of
its proximate constitution.
Many of the constituents given are always present in the living cells
of higher plants. It cannot be too emphatically stated that where
"biotic" force is manifested, these colloidal or albuminous compounds
are found.
The simplest form of plant life is an undifferentiated individual, all
of its functions being performed indifferently by all parts of its
protoplasm.
The chemical basis of plasmodium is almost entirely composed of
complex albuminous substances, and correlated with this structureless
body are other compounds derived from them. Aside from the chemical
substances which are always present in living matter, and are
essential properties of protoplasm, we find no other compounds. In the
higher organisms, where these functions are not performed
indifferently, specialization of tissues is accompanied by many other
kinds of bodies.
The algae are a stage higher in the evolutionary scale than the
undifferentiated noncellular plasmodium. The simple _Alga
protococcus_[3] may be regarded as a simple cell.
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