192 CLOSE OF THE PRE-E VOLUTION A RY PERIOD 



cell-theory to physiology and pathology called forth a vigorous 

 protest from Reichert, 1 who discussed in a very instructive 

 \vay the contrast between the older "systematic" and the 

 newer "atomistic" attitude to living Nature. 



Is it really true, he asks, that the cell is the dominant 

 element in all organisation ; is the cell comparable in 

 importance to the atom of the chemists ; or is it not 

 rather the servant of a higher regulatory power? Johannes 

 M tiller, who was Reichert's master, had in his Physiology- 

 argued splendidly for the existence of a creative force 

 which guides and rules development, and brings to pass 

 that unity and harmony of composition which distinguish 

 living things from inorganic products. Reichert sought 

 in vain in the writings of the biological " atomists " for 

 any smallest recognition of these broader characteristics of 

 living things upon which M tiller had rightly laid stress. 

 For the atomists the cell was the only element of form ; 

 they ignored the combination of cells to form tissues, of 

 tissues to form organs, of organs to form an organism. For 

 the morphologists the cell was one element among many, 

 and the lowest of all. 



The difference of attitude is clearly shown if we consider 

 from the two points of view a complicated organ-system such 

 as the central nervous system. The atomist sees in this a 

 mere aggregate of cells or at the most of groups of cells. 

 " The morphologist," on the other hand, " sees in the central 

 nervous system a proximate element in the composition of 

 the body a primitive organ. From this point of view he 

 apprehends and judges its morphological relations with, in 

 the first place, the other co-ordinated primitive organs in 

 the system as a whole ; in all this the cells remain in the 

 background, and have nothing to do directly with the 

 determination of these morphological relations" (p. 6). 

 Within the nervous system there are separate organs which 

 stand to one another in a definite morphological and 

 functional relationship. These organs are, it is true, com- 

 posed of cells; but between the form and connections of 



1 Ilcricht iibcr (Ue I'orlschritlc dcr mikroskopischen An itoinic ii 



1854. Miiller's Archiv, 1855. Sec also 

 -' l/ndb. if. rhysiol., i., 1835. 



