\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.
Note: 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.