Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A molecule of protoplasm; chemically, the smallest mass of protoplasm which can exist as such, or the very complex and highly unstable molecule of the chemical substance protein, when invested with vital activities.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Biol.) One of the small particles or organic molecules of protoplasm.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biology One of the small particles or organic molecules of protoplasm.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

plastid +‎ -ule

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Examples

  • The "plastidule-soul" and the potentialities of carbon may be sound scientific conceptions, or they may be the reverse, but they are no necessary part of the doctrine of evolution, and I leave their defence to Professor Haeckel.

    Freie wissenschaft und freie lehr. English Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876

  • Nay, surely even Professor Virchow's "dearest foes," the "plastidule soul" and "Carbon & Co.," have more to say for themselves, than the linguistic accomplishments of Balaam's ass and the obedience of the sun and moon to the commander of a horde of bloodthirsty Hebrews!

    Freie wissenschaft und freie lehr. English Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876

  • If we agree to call this active substance plasson, and its molecules plastidules, we may say that the individual physiological character of each of these cells is due to its molecular plastidule-movement.

    The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876

  • All plastidules possess memory; and Memory which we see in its ultimate analysis is identical with reproduction, is the distinguishing feature of the plastidule; is that which it alone of all molecules possesses, in addition to the ordinary properties of the physicist's molecule; is, in fact, that which distinguishes it as vital.

    Evolution, Old & New Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, as compared with that of Charles Darwin Samuel Butler 1868

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