330 Dr Escliricht's Inquiries concerning 



appear as the corpuscula Deutschii. In the formation of the 

 tela cellulosa of the muscles and nerves, the metamorphosis 

 of these primitive cells is still more singular ; but it will not 

 here be necessary to carry this review farther. Suffice it to 

 observe, that it is out of these primitive cells that the primi- 

 tive fibres, tubes, and particles in general are formed, by their 

 metamorphosis, by their arrangement into rows, and by secre- 

 tion in their interior. These phenomena in the process of 

 reproduction are very like those observed in the formation of 

 eggs, and in the metamorphosis of the blastema into the em- 

 bryo, as, in general, thei/ resemble those which take place in all 

 7iutritive processes, in the widest sense of the expression. Not 

 only is the blaste (blasto dema) composed of cells ; even the 

 yolk, in a great measure, consists of them, and the egg may 

 be regarded as a regeneration of the whole parent body, pro- 

 ceeding in the same way as reproduction in general ; viz. a 

 transparent fluid is secreted in the ovarium ; nuclei and cells 

 are formed within it, which are destined to undergo a series 

 of metamorphoses. In this case, the secreted mass, with its 

 primitive cells, is limited by peculiar envelopes, indicating its 

 higher destination as an independent organism. But even in 

 this general formation of the whole organism, an analogy has 

 ' been traced by Dr Schwann to that of the primitive cells ; the 

 vesicula germinativa (or Purkinjii) being compared to the 

 nucleolus, the yolk to the cell and its secretion. &c. (See 

 Schwann, 1. c. p. 46-70.) How very much the ova of the As- 

 carides resemble primitive cells will be afterwards shewn. As 

 the formation of tlie egg may be termed a reproduction of the 

 whole body, so nutrition may be regarded as a reproduction 

 of the smallest particles of the body. And, in truth, it ap- 

 pears beyond all doubt, that the internal changes in this pro- 

 cess go forward precisely in the same way. No particle of a 

 bone, for instance, will be formed, whether at first in the 

 foetus, or afterwards by the unceasing process of nutrition, or 

 accidentally by the regeneration of a wounded bone, without a 

 metamorphosis from cartilage ; this, again, will be formed in 

 every instance by primitive cells, and these, exactly in the way 

 just mentioned. An inflammation, which is characterised by 

 "swelling, heat, redness, and pain," has nothingto do with these 



