Protoplasm has the power of appropriating nutrient material, of dividing and subdividing, so as to form new masses like itself. When not built into a tissue, it has the power of changing its shape and of moving from place to place, by means of the delicate processes which it puts forth. Now, while there are found in the lowest realm of animal life, organisms like the amœba of stagnant pools, consisting of nothing more than minute masses of protoplasm, there are others like them which possess a small central body called a nucleus. This is known as nucleated protoplasm.

Fig. 1.—Diagram of a Cell.

11. Cells. When we carry back the analysis of an organized body as far as we can, we find every part of it made up of masses of nucleated protoplasm of various sizes and shapes. In all essential features these masses conform to the type of protoplasmic matter just described. Such bodies are called cells. In many cells the nucleus is finely granular or reticulated in appearance, and on the threads of the meshwork may be one or more enlargements, called nucleoli. In some cases the protoplasm at the circumference is so modified as to give the appearance of a limiting membrane called the cell wall. In brief, then, a cell is a mass of nucleated protoplasm; the nucleus may have a nucleolus, and the cell may be limited by a cell wall. Every tissue of the human body is formed through the agency of protoplasmic cells, although in most cases the changes they undergo are so great that little evidence remains of their existence.

There are some organisms lower down in the scale, whose whole activity is confined within the narrow limits of a single cell. Thus, the amœba begins its life as a cell split off from its parent. This divides in its turn, and each half is a complete amœba. When we come a little higher than the amœba, we find organisms which consist of several cells, and a specialization of function begins to appear. As we ascend in the animal scale, specialization of structure and of function is found continually advancing, and the various kinds of cells are grouped together into colonies or organs.

12. Cells and the Human Organism. If the body be studied in its development, it is found to originate from a single mass of nucleated protoplasm, a single cell with a nucleus and nucleolus. From this original cell, by growth and development, the body, with all its various tissues, is built up. Many fully formed organs, like the liver, consist chiefly of cells. Again, the cells are modified to form fibers, such as tendon, muscle, and nerve. Later on, we shall see the white blood corpuscles exhibit all the characters of the amœba ([Fig. 2]). Even such dense structures as bone, cartilage, and the teeth are formed from cells.

Fig. 2.—Amœboid Movement of a Human White Blood Corpuscle. (Showing various phases of movement.)