THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 



PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



On the Nucleus of the Animal and Vegetable " Cell,'" By 

 Martin Barry, M.D., F.R.S., London |bnd Edinburgh. 

 Communicated by the Author.* With Two Plates. 



" It will be remarkable if the mammiferous ovum, which, be- 

 cause of its minuteness and the supposed difficulty of obtain- 

 ing ifc, had been generally considered beyond the reach of sa- 

 tisfactory observation, should now become the means of study- 

 ing, not merely other ova, but certain processes by which 

 nourishment is communicated, and the growth of the body 

 effected at all future periods of life. Such, however, I think 

 will really be the case." 



This was long since written by myself,t under a conviction 

 that the nuclei of all cells were the seat of changes of the 

 same kind as those which I had shewn to attend the fecun- 

 dation of the mammiferous ovum, in the nucleus of its germi- 

 nal vesicle or cell — the germinal spot. Whether in the 

 opinion then expressed I was mistaken, will be seen from 

 the following pages ; intended to contain not only an outline 

 of the elaborate process producing the changes in question, 

 but also a few examples of the extent to which I have the sa- 

 tisfaction to find my observations have been confirmed, and 

 my views formally applied. 



I think it peculiarly proper to offer this communication to 

 the Wernerian Society ; having been first induced to enter 

 upon microscopic research by the perusal of a work on Em- 



* The substance of a paper read before the "Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, 

 on Saturday, the 3d April 1817, with some additions, 

 t Phil. Trans. 1841, p. 201. 

 VOL. XLIII. NO, LXXXVI. — OCTOBER 1847. O 



