Fig. 86.—Ferdinand Cohn, 1828-1898.
De Bary.—We find, then, in the middle years of the nineteenth century the idea launched that sarcode and protoplasm are identical, but it was not yet definitely established that the sarcode of lower animals is the same as the living substance of the higher ones, and there was, therefore, lacking an essential factor to the conclusion that there is only one general form of living matter in all organisms. It took another ten years of investigation to reach this end.
The most important contributions from the botanical side during this period were the splendid researches of De Bary (Fig. 87) on the myxomycetes, published in 1859. Here the resemblance between sarcode and protoplasm was brought out with great clearness. The myxomycetes are, in one condition, masses of vegetable protoplasm, the movements and other characteristics of which were shown to resemble strongly those of the protozoa. De Bary's great fame as a botanist has made his name widely known.
Fig. 87.—Heinrich A. de Bary, 1831-1888.
In 1858 Virchow also, by his extensive studies in the pathology of living cells, added one more link to the chain that was soon to be recognized as encircling the new domain of modern biology.
