Prothonotary

“ All Protista have a soul—that is to say, are “animate”—as well as all animals and all plants. The soul’s activity in the Protista manifests itself in their irritability, that is, in the movements and other changes which take place in consequence of mechanical, 69 electrical, and chemical irritation of their contractile protoplasm. Consciousness and the capability of will and thought are probably wanting in all Protista. ”

“ These Protista, again, it is impossible to separate into animal and vegetal so sharply as to treat adequately of either group without including some of the other: thus it is that every text-book on Zoology, like the present work, treats of certain Protophyta. The most unmistakably animal group of the Protista, the Ciliata, is, as we have seen, by the complex differentiation of its protoplasm, widely removed from the Metazoa with their relatively simple cells but differentiated cell-groups and tissues. ”

“ The progressive development of the cell theory of organic structure, and the several steps which have led to a recognition of protoplasm as a factor in evolution and in the processes of vegetable and animal nutrition, may be profitably reviewed to illustrate the erroneous inferences made from superficial and defective observation. In 1755 Rosenhoff described the Proteus animalcule, now familiarly known as the Amæba, without being aware of the importance of the discovery in furnishing a type of the form or conditions of matter required for the manifestations of life. ”

“ While the protoplasm of the biologist is a substance which is more or less opaque or visible, the protoplasm now conceived of as the material of the whole creation in its first state, when development is to begin, must, on the contrary, be altogether homogeneous and invisible. But none the less is it entitled to the name of protoplasm; nay, it alone must be justly entitled to that name, for it is the first of created things, and, being the product of an Almighty Being, it must be altogether plastic in His hands. It can have no constitution of its own derived from itself ”

“ Partly because the term represented an interpretation rather than an objective set of facts, the word Protista has not been generally accepted for use in classification, and, whilst recognizing that the limits of the animal and plant kingdoms are not sharply defined, modern systematists refrain from associating these doubtfully placed organisms simply because of the dubiety of their position. ”

“ He finds that "already among the microscopic Protista there are some that love light, and some that love darkness rather than light. Many seem also to have smell and taste, for they select their food with great care.... Here, also, we are met by the weighty fact that sense-function is possible without sense organs, without nerves. In place of these, sensitiveness is resident in that wondrous, structureless, albuminous substance, which, under the name of protoplasm, or organic formative material, is known as the general and essential basis of all the phenomena of life." ”

“ We may rather, with Kölliker, Verworn and others, ascribe the activities of protoplasm to the mutual interaction of many substances, no single one of which can be considered as living in itself, but only in so far as it forms an indispensable constituent of a living body. From this point of view life is to be regarded, not as the property of a single definite substance, but as the expression of the ever-changing relations existing between the many substances which make up the complex and variable congeries known to us as protoplasm. ”

“ Proterandry, prot-e-ran′dri, n. the maturity of the anthers of a perfect flower before its stigma is ready to receive the pollen.—adj. Proteran′drous.
Proteroglypha, prot-e-rog′li-fa, n.pl. a group of snakes having the anterior maxillary teeth grooved. [Gr. proteros, fore, glyphein, to carve.]
Proterogyny, prot-e-roj′i-ni, n. the maturity of the stigmas of a perfect flower before its anthers have matured their pollen.—adj. Proterog′ynous. ”

“ However, the same qualities are in the same degree also wanting in many of the lower animals, whereas many of the higher animals in these respects are scarcely inferior to the lower races of human beings. In the Protista, as in all other organisms, the activities of the soul are traceable to molecular motions in the protoplasm. ”

“ Protoloma: the anterior margin of primaries.
Protomesal: applied to certain areolets in Hymenoptera, situated between costal cells and apical margin.
Prototergite: the foremost dorsal segment of abdomen.
Preto-thorax: = prothorax: q.v.
Prototype: a primitive form to which later forms can be traced.
Protractor: that which extends or lengthens out: applied to muscles.
Protuberance: any elevation above the surface.
Protuberant: rising or produced above the surface or general level.
Proventriculus: the posterior portion of crop: the gizzard. ”

“ The new plant is, however, not a horsetail, but a small filmy prothallus, somewhat like the prothallus of a fern. Some of the prothalli produce male cells, while others give rise to female cells. When the minute male cells are ripe, they are set free, and are able, by means of fine, lashing threads, to swim towards the female cells of a neighbouring prothallus, through a drop of dew or rain. The two cells fuse together and give rise to a little embryo, which in due course grows up into a new plant—an ordinary horsetail with stems and branches and roots like its grandparent. ”

“ To say wherever there is life there is protoplasm, is to say that there can be no life without protoplasm, and this is saying that where there is no protoplasm there is no life. But large parts of the body are non-protoplasmic; a bone is, indeed, permeated by protoplasm, but it is not protoplasm; it follows, therefore, that according to Professor Allman bone is not in any proper sense of words a living substance. ”

“ In another stage of the inquiry we will learn the exact effect which restitutive material, when not accurately complemental, does actually exert on the protoplasm. I will here only mention that it has, very demonstrably, only the power specifically to deteriorate the same, and not in the least the power to give it any impulse toward higher development. In the course of organic progress it is the living substance which lifts the food to the level of its own requirements; not the food which confers higher vital powers on the protoplasm. ”

“ The proteus, an animal of the frog kind, inhabiting the subterraneous waters of Carniola, and which never acquires perfect lungs so as to become a land animal, is presumed to be an example of arrested development, from the same cause. When, in connexion with these facts, we learn that human mothers living in dark and close cells under ground,—that is to say, with an inadequate provision of air and light,—are found to produce an unusual proportion of defective children, [229] we can appreciate the important effects of both these physical conditions in ordinary reproduction. ”

“ Here the vegetative filament puts out two protuberances, which become shut off from the body of the filament by partitions. The protoplasm in one of these protuberances arranges itself into a round mass--the oosphere or female cell. The protoplasm of the other protuberance divides into many small masses, furnished with cilia, the spermatozoids or male cells. Each protuberance bursts, and some of the spermatozoids come in contact with and are absorbed by the oosphere, which then secretes a cell-wall, and after a time germinates. ”

“ It is the formative agent of all living tissues. Vital activity, in the broadest sense of the term, manifests itself in the development of the germ into the complete organism, repeating the type of its parents, and in the subsequent maintenance of that organism in its integrity and both these functions are exclusively carried on by the protoplasm. Of course, there is a good deal of chemical and mechanical work done in the organism, but protoplasm is the formative agent of all the tissues and structures. ”

“ Head (Fig. 36) : as in description for genus above. Prothorax. Pronotum (Fig. 36) moderately broad, as wide as head across eyes (WH/WP, mean both sexes: 0.973) longer than head (LP/LH, mean both sexes: 1.349) , wider than long (W/L: mean both sexes: 1.824) ; markedly cordiform and explanate, lateral margin beaded with seta at anterior third; base markedly constricted and lobed; anterior angles moderately produced, hind angle markedly acutely produced and setose; median line moderately defined, basal and apical transverse impressions punctate, punctures infuscated; surface smooth throughout. ”

“ After the Phytozoa come the Protozoa, or first forms in which animality is distinctly recognised. Under this term are assembled creatures of very various organization, from the extreme simplicity of the Proteus or Amœba, a little lump of jelly, that moves by thrusting out portions of its body, so as to make a sort of extempore legs, and in which no organs can be discerned, [2] up to others that are highly developed, like our Vorticellæ. This group is evidently provisional, and jumbles together objects that may be widely separated when their true structure and real affinities are discerned. ”

“ The name protoplasm, now so familiarly used by physiologists, is doubtless legitimate so long as we do not mix up different substances under it, or imagine that the name gives us any knowledge of the obscure origin of life. To name a substance protoplasm no more explains the infinite variety of forms of life which spring out of the substance than does the vital force which may be supposed to reside in the protoplasm. ”

“ But it suggests a method by which, when the chemistry of protoplasm and proteid is better known, the proper substances which compose protoplasm may be brought together to form a simple kind of protoplasm.
It has been suggested from time to time that conditions very unlike those now existing were necessary for the first appearance of life, and must be repeated if living matter is to be constructed artificially. No support for such a view can be derived from observations of the existing conditions of life. ”

“ The cell resulting from the coalescence of the male pronucleus with the pronucleus of the ovum, and which is only one fifth of a millimeter in size, is the first stage in the existence of a human being. Man thus starts his career as a Protozoan-like creature,—as a unicellular animal. ”

“ Prothorax, prō-thō′raks, n. the anterior segment of the thorax of insects.—adj. Prothorac′ic (-ras-) .
Protista, prō-tis′ta, n.pl. a proposed term for a zoological kingdom including Protozoa and Protophyta. [Gr. prōtistos, superl. of prōtos, first.]
Protococcus, prō-tō-kok′us, n. a microscopic vegetable organism forming the green scum upon trees, tiles, &c. [Gr. prōtos, first, kokkos, a berry.] ”

“ After a time, however, the cells are produced transversely as well as longitudinally, resulting in the formation of a flattened leaf-like expansion (Fig. 125, d) , a cellular structure, the so-called Prothallus, which can scarcely be distinguished from a young Marchantia. In this Prothallus are developed Archegonia and Antheridia: the union of the embryo-cell of the Archegonia and the spiral filament of the Antheridia gives rise to the new Fern, which may be seen growing out of the Prothallus (Fig. 126) , which soon passes away. ”

“ The ultimate step, as we must suppose, is the formation of living protoplasm out of these non-living proteids. A cardinal fact is that proteids admit of multitudinous transformations; and it seems not improbable that in protoplasm various isomeric proteids are mingled. If so, we must conclude that protoplasm admits of almost infinite variations in nature. Of course pari passu with this dual process—augmentation of protoplasm and accompanying production of carbo-hydrates—there goes extension of plant-structure and plant-life. ”

“ All Protista, on the other hand, propagate themselves exclusively in a non-sexual manner, and in fact, the distinction of the two sexes among them has not been effected—there are neither male nor female Protista. ”

“ I have shown above that one consequence of the attempt so vigorously made a few years ago to establish protoplasm as the one living substance, is the making it clear that the non-protoplasmic parts of the body and the simpler extra-corporeal tools or organs must run on all fours in the matter of livingness and non-livingness. If the protoplasmic parts of the body are held living in virtue of their being used by something that really lives, then so, though in a less degree, must tools and machines. ”

“ The evidence points to a common and universal law that continued life is an attribute of an especially endowed protoplasm, termed germ plasm, which forms the material basis of the reproductive cells.
The history of single Protozoa, if taken superficially, seems to point to the fact that the protoplasm of these cells does not die a natural death, but continues to live in successive generations of similar individuals. The individual cell appears to be entirely self-sufficient ”

“ All organisms which we comprise under the name of Protista show in their external form, in their inner structure, and in all their vital phenomena, such a remarkable mixture of animal and vegetable properties, that they cannot with perfect justice be assigned either to the animal or to the vegetable kingdom ”

“ The physiological activities of protoplasm are manifested in its irritability, or ready response to external stimuli, as well as its inherent capacity of spontaneous movement and other indications of life; so that the least particle of this substance may be observed to go through the whole cycle of vital functions. Protoplasm builds up every vegetable and animal fabric, it is itself devoid of discernible histological structure. ”