Protomorphic
(Pro`to*mor"phic) a. [Proto- + Gr. form.] (Biol.) Having the most primitive character; in
the earliest form; as, a protomorphic layer of tissue. H. Spencer.
Protonema
(||Pro`to*ne"ma) n.; pl. Protonemata [NL., fr. Gr. first + a thread.] (Bot.) The primary
growth from the spore of a moss, usually consisting of branching confervoid filaments, on any part of
which stem and leaf buds may be developed.
Protonotary
(Pro*ton"o*ta*ry) n. Same as Prothonotary.
Protoörganism
(Pro`to*ör"gan*ism) n. [Proto- + organism.] (Biol.) An organism whose nature is so difficult
to determine that it might be referred to either the animal or the vegetable kingdom.
Protopapas
(||Pro`to*pap"as) n. [NL., from Gr. a chief priest.] (Gr. Ch.) A protopope.
Protophyte
(Pro"to*phyte) n. [Proto- + Gr. a plant.] (Bot.) Any unicellular plant, or plant forming only a
plasmodium, having reproduction only by fission, gemmation, or cell division.
The protophytes (Protophyta) are by some botanists considered an independent branch or class of the
vegetable kingdom, and made to include the lowest forms of both fungi and algæ, as slime molds, Bacteria,
the nostocs, etc. Cf. Carpophyte, and Oöphyte.
Protophytology
(Pro`to*phy*tol"o*gy) n. [Proto- + phytology.] Paleobotany.
Protopine
(Pro"to*pine) n. [Proto- + opium.] (Chem.) An alkaloid found in opium in small quantities,
and extracted as a white crystalline substance.
Protoplasm
(Pro"to*plasm) n. [Proto- + Gr. form, fr. to mold.] (Biol.) The viscid and more or less
granular material of vegetable and animal cells, possessed of vital properties by which the processes of
nutrition, secretion, and growth go forward; the so-called " physical basis of life;" the original cell substance,
cytoplasm, cytoblastema, bioplasm sarcode, etc.
The lowest forms of animal and vegetable life (unicellular organisms) consist of simple or unaltered
protoplasm; the tissues of the higher organisms, of differentiated protoplasm.
Protoplasmatic
(Pro`to*plas*mat"ic) a. Protoplasmic.
Protoplasmic
(Pro`to*plas"mic) a.
1. Of or pertaining to the first formation of living bodies.
2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to protoplasm; consisting of, or resembling, protoplasm.
Protoplast
(Pro"to*plast) n. [L. protoplastus the first man, Gr. formed or created first; first + formed, fr.
to form.]
1. The thing first formed; that of which there are subsequent copies or reproductions; the original.
2. (Biol.) A first-formed organized body; the first individual, or pair of individuals, of a species.
A species is a class of individuals, each of which is hypothetically considered to be the descendant of
the same protoplast, or of the same pair of protoplasts.
Latham. Protoplasta
(||Pro`to*plas"ta) n. pl. [NL.] (Zoöl.) A division of fresh-water rhizopods including those that
have a soft body and delicate branched pseudopodia. The genus Gromia is one of the best-known.
Protoplastic
(Pro`to*plas"tic) a. First- formed. Howell.
