Page:Life in Motion.djvu/110

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
90
LIFE IN MOTION

corpuscles. Careful observations, with high microscopic powers, show us that these are little living things capable of moving and of changing their form, especially when irritated.

Covering many parts of the bodies of some of the lower animals, and abounding on some surfaces, as in the air passages of our own Fig. 43.—Stratified ciliated epithelium. 1, oval; 2, spindle-shaped; 3, cylindrical cells, magnified 560 diameters. From the lining of the nose in the respiratory region. bodies, are delicate hair-like things called cilia. This diagram shows them as found in the human windpipe. These cilia are destitute of nerves, and yet we see them during life in rapid movement. With high powers, one can see the protoplasm of which they are composed apparently pulsating. All we can say as to their movement is that they show rhythmical contractions. Inherent in their protoplasm is