The New Student's Reference Work/Amœba

Amœ'ba, one of the lowest microscopic animal organisms, extensively used in laboratory work in. The amœba is a single (see ); its body is a mass of. Therefore, when we make observations upon it we are observing protoplasm at first hand and can determine its properties and behavior. Within its body all the take place in a simplified form. It is, therefore, of unusual interest to biologists, for the physiological processes are so complex in higher animals that one must have them reduced to their simplest expression in order to comprehend them. The soft protoplasm of its body is always moving. It flows into finger-like processes (pseudopodia), and changes its position from place to place. It also flows about food particles and thereby engulfs them into its substance. The amoeba is found in stagnant water, moist, etc. The living substance of its body is contractile, like ; irritable, like ; receptive, , , , etc.—the germs of activities that are more developed and perfected in higher animals. See.