Excerpt from Pond Life
There are large numbers of people, who unfortunately miss a great many of the good things of this world. They live their lives without knowing anything of the wonders that surround them. There are some keen searchers after knowledge, alive to the fact that time is precious, and there is much to learn - but there are also countless numbers who are so ignorant that they do not realise that there is anything beneath the surface, and they simply live to make the best of their positions, and take interest in nothing in particular. And there are yet a few - one meets such occasionally - that scoff at everything which does not concern them personally.
The reader will, I hope, peruse this introduction carefully, as it may add to his or her pleasure, for a little elementary knowledge is required if the intention is to take an intelligent interest in what follows.
Every living thing, whether plant or animal, whether it be the leaves, flowers, or fruit of the former, or flesh and muscle of the latter, is made of many single cells, and each cell essentially consists of a wall that surrounds it, protoplasm, and a nucleus.
Protoplasm without nucleus cannot exist, nor can the nucleus without protoplasm. And each cell is typically alive - that is to say, it is able to multiply, to make more of its kind. Thus an animal grows larger year by year - the ovule forms the plant.
Living things are roughly divided into (1) single-celled, (2) many-celled things. The single-celled animals are known as Protozoa many-celled as Metazoa.
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