Page:EB1911 - Volume 21.djvu/776

PHYSIOLOGY] protoplasts, all of which are at first exactly alike in appearance and in properties. This is evident in the case of such plants as have a body consisting of filaments or plates of cells, and is little less conspicuous in those whose mass is but small, though the cells are evidently capable of computation in three dimensions. It does not at first appear to be the same with the bulkier plants, such as the ordinary green herbs, shrubs or trees, but a study of their earlier development indicates that they do not at the outset differ in any way from the simple undifferentiated forms. Each commences its existence as a simple naked protoplast, in the embroyo-sac or the archegonium, as the case may be. After the curious fusion with another similar protoplast, which constitutes what we call fertilization, the next stage in complexity already noted may be observed, the protoplasm becoming clothed by a cell-membrane. Very soon the single cell gives rise to a chain of cells, and this in turn to a cell mass, the individual units of which are at first quite uniform. With increase of number, however, and consequently enlargement of bulk in the colony, differentiation becomes compulsory. The requirements of the several pro top lasts must be met by supplies from without, and, as many of them are deep seated, varieties of need arise, so that various members of the colony are set apart for special duties, masses of them being devoted to the discharge of one function, others to that of another, and so on. Such limitations of the powers and properties of the individuals have for their object the well-being of the community of which those individuals are constituents.

Physiological and Morphological Differentiation.—The first indication of this differentiation in the vegetative body of the plant can be seen not only in the terrestrial green plants which have been particularly referred to, but also in the bulkier seaweeds. It is an extension of the first differentiation which was observable in the simple protoplasts first discussed, the formation, that is, of a protective covering. Fucus and its allies, which form conspicuous members of the larger Algae, have their external cells much smaller, more closely put together, and generally much denser than the rest of their tissue. In the lowly as well as the higher green plants we have evidence of specialization of the external protoplasts for the same purpose, which takes various shapes and shows different degrees of completeness, culminating in the elaborate barks which clothe our forest trees.

The second prominent differentiation which presents itself takes the form of a provision to supply the living substance with water. This is a primal necessity of the protoplast, and every cell gives evidence of its need by adopting one of the various ways in which such need is supplied. What little differentiation can be found to exist in the protoplasm of the simple unicellular organism shows the importance of an adequate water-supply, and indeed, the dependence of life upon it. The naked cells which have been alluded to live in water, and call therefore for no differentiation in connexion with this necessity; but those which are surrounded by a cell-wall always develop within themselves a vacuole or cavity which occupies the greater part of their interior, and the hydrostatic pressure of whose contents keeps the protoplasm in contact with the membrane, setting up a condition of turgidity.

The need for a constant supply of water is partly based upon the constitution of protoplasm, so far as we know it. The apparently structureless substance is saturated with it; and if once a cell is completely dried, even at a low temperature, in the enormous majority of cases its life is gone and the restoration of water fails to enable it to recover. Besides this intimate relationship, however, we can point to other features of the necessity for a constantly renewed water supply. The protoplasm derives its food from substances in solution in the water; the various waste products which are incident to its life are excreted into it, and so removed from the sphere of its activity. The raw materials from which the food is constructed are absorbed from the exterior in solution in water, and the latter is the medium through which the gaseous constituents necessary for life reach the protoplasm. Moreover, growth is essentially

dependent upon water-supply. There is little wonder, then, that in a colony of pro top lasts such as constitute a large plant a considerable degree of differentiation is evident, bearing upon the question of water supply. Certain cells of the exterior are set apart for absorption of water from the soil, this being the source from which supplies are derived. Others are devoted to the work of carrying it to the protoplasts situated in the interior and at the extremities of the plant, a conducting system of considerable complexity being the result.

Other collections of cells are in many cases set apart for giving rigidity and strength to the mass of the plant. It is evident that as the latter increases in bulk, more and more attention must be paid to the dangers of uprooting by winds and storms. Various mechanisms have been adopted in different cases, some connected with the subterranean and others with the sub-aerial portions of the plant. Another kind of differentiation in such a cell-mass as we are dealing with is the setting apart of particular groups of cells for various metabolic purposes. We have the formation of numerous mechanisms which have arisen in connexion with the question of food supply, which may not only involve particular cells, but also lead to differentiation in the protoplasm of those cells, as in the development of the chloroplastids of the leaves and other green parts.

The inter-relations of the members of a large colony of protoplasts such as constitute a tree, demand much adjustment. Relations with the exterior are continually changing, and the needs of different regions of the interior are continually varying, from time to time. Two features which are essentially protoplasmic assume a great importance when we consider these relations. They are the power of receiving impressions or stimuli from the exterior, and of communicating with each other, with the view of co-ordinating a suitable response. We have nothing structural which corresponds to the former of these. In this matter, differentiation has proceeded very differently in animals and plants respectively, no nerves or sense organs being structurally recognizable. Communication between the various protoplasts of the colony is, however, carried on by means of fine protoplasmic threads, which are continuous through the cell-walls.

All the peculiarities of structure which we encounter consequently support the view with which we started, that the protoplasm of the plant is the dominant factor in vegetable structure, and that there need be but one subject of physiology, which must embrace the behaviour of protoplasm wherever found. There can be no doubt that there is no fundamental difference between the living substance of animals and plants, for many forms exist which cannot be referred with certainty to either kingdom. Free-swimming organisms without cell-membranes exist in both, and from them series of forms can be traced in both directions. Cellulose, the material of which vegetable cell-walls are almost universally composed, at any rate in their early condition, is known to occur, though only seldom, among animal organisms. Such forms as Volvox and the group of the Myxomycetes have been continually referred to both kingdoms, and their true systematic position is still a subject of controversy. All physiology, consequently, must be based upon the identity of the protoplasm of all living beings.

This method of study has to a large extent modified our ideas of the relative importance of the parts of such an organism as a large tree. The interest with which we regard the latter no longer turns upon the details of the structure of its trunk, limbs and roots, to which the living substance of the more superficial parts was subordinated. Instead of regarding these as only ministering to the construction of the bulky portions, the living protoplasts take the first place as the essential portion of the tree, and all the other features are important mainly as ministering to their individual well-being and to their multiplication. The latter feature is the growth of the tree, the well-being of the protoplasts is its life and health. The interest passes from the bulky dense interior, with the elaborate features of its cell-walls, to the superficial parts, where its life is in evidence. We see herein the reason for the great subdivision of the body, with its