from the new direction, but completed a series of excellent
investigations connected with the new questions in the theory
of cell-formation. The most important of these was his enquiry
into the nature of protoplasm, to which he gave the name still
in use. In his treatise, 'Die Vegetabilische Zelle,' which came
out in 1851 in Wagner's Dictionary of Physiology, he even
gave an excellent account of the modern theory of cell-formation; but notwithstanding all this, and the great authority which he rightly continued to enjoy, he was no longer the guide who led the way in the domain of phytotomy, as he had been before 1845.
His zeal as an observer had at all times been chiefly attracted to the solid framework of vegetable structure in its matured condition, though a number of his most important works were devoted to the study of cell-contents.
Except in his 'Anatomic der Palmen' (1831), where he ex- pended much and to some extent even unnecessary labour on figures representing the general appearance of the tissue (histologic habit), von Mohl's microscopic drawings do not aim at giving the collective impression, but at facilitating the understanding of the delicate structure of single cells and their combinations by aid of the simplest possible lines. He always despised pictures from the microscope, such as were introduced at a later time by Schacht, a kind of artistic restoration of the originals and to some extent a playing with science; and in his later publications he was more sparing of illustrations or omitted them altogether, in proportion as he acquired the power of giving clear verbal explanations of even difficult structural conditions.
Von Mohl's scientific activity was so wonderfully productive thatjt is not easy to present the reader with a clear account of it; but we must endeavour at least to furnish such a summary of its chief results as may serve to give a general idea of his importance in the history of our science. We may here pass over such of his treatises as do not bear on the main questions of phytotomy, and notice only those that relate to the structure
