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The idea that protoplasm is divisible into a ground substance called cytoplasm and a structural body called the nucleus reflects the more primitive knowledge of cell structure that preceded the development of powerful microscopes (see Electron microscope). It was once widely held that life could exist in essentially a "soup" of organic and inorganic substances, mysteriously directed by the nucleus and controlled by the cell membrane. Today, it is known that the cytoplasm is structurally very complex, and that protoplasm is living due to the complexity of the cytoplasmic organelles and their careful separation and orchestration of multiple chemical processes.