Henceforth this protoplasmic substance was destined to take an important position in the physiological world. It is, then, desirable to enter somewhat more fully into the life history of so remarkable a body. It has a limiting membrane, composed of a substance somewhat allied to starch, termed _cellulose_, one of the group of compounds known as carbo-hydrates. The mode of formation and growth of this cell wall is not yet definitely determined; nevertheless, it is the universal framework or skeleton of the vegetable world, although it appears to play no special part in their vital functions. It merely serves the purpose of a protecting membrane to the globular body called the “_primordial cell_,” which permanently constitutes the living principle upon which the whole fundamental phenomena of growth and reproduction depend. Sometimes this protoplasmic material is seen to constitute the whole plant; and so with regard to the simplest known forms of animal life--the amœba, for example. That so simple and minute an organism should be capable of independent motion is indeed surprising. Dujardin, a French physiologist, termed this animated matter _sarcode_. On a closer study of the numerous forms of animal life it was found that all were alike composed of this sarcode substance, some apparently not having a cell wall. The same seemed to hold good of certain higher forms of cells, the colourless blood corpuscles for instance, which under high powers of the microscope are seen to change their shape, moving about by the streaming out of this sarcode. At length the truth dawned on histologists that the cell contents, rather than the closing wall, must be the essential structure. On further investigation it became apparent that a far closer similarity existed between vegetables and animals than was before supposed. Ultimately it was made clear that the vegetable protoplasm and the animal sarcode were one and the same structure. Max Schultz found this to be the case, and to all intents and purposes they are identical.