Protoplasm
Protoplasm ( Greek proton: first , plasma: what is formed ) is a term that is no longer in use today and is used inconsistently for the inner sol or gel-like liquid mass of all living cells including the cell nucleus . The term was introduced in 1839 in a lecture by Jan Evangelista Purkyně for the primitive substance in the vesicles (cells) of the plant and animal embryonic body. Analogous terms were the "Cambium", also used by Purkyně, and the term " Sarkode ", which Félix Dujardin (1802-1860) first used in 1835 for the unicellular organisms (rhizopods). The German botanist Hugo von Mohl (1805–1872) finally gave this intracellular structure the name protoplasm .
According to the vitalists , the protoplasm - based on the Catholic liturgy which Adam calls the " protoplastus " - should contain a vis vitalis (life force), which is what defines the essence of living beings. Since knowledge about the composition of the protoplasm was gathered, but a vis vitalis was neither found nor needed to explain the functions of the cell, Albert von Kölliker introduced the term cytoplasm to describe the cell substance without the cell nucleus it contains.
literature
- Keyword protoplasm In: Herder-Lexikon der Biologie. Spectrum, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8274-0354-5
- Ernst Mayr : That is biology. The science of life. Spektrum, Heidelberg 2000, ISBN 3-8274-1015-0 , in particular p. 29 ff.
- Helga Güttler: The terms plasma and protoplasm: their development and change in biology. In: Rete , 1, 1972, pp. 365-375.
- Protoplasm . In: Die Zeit , No. 11/1986
- Protoplasm . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 13, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 422.
