Trans. N. V. Ac. Sa. 42 Nov. 21, 



— thus we may speak of blood-corpuscles, pus-corpuscles, etc. For all 

 the accumulations of living matter within the ordinary fields of basis- 

 substance, but more especially for those smaller masses which, having 

 as yet developed neither a network structure nor much vacuolation, are 

 still homogeneous, or nearly so, I am quite willing to adopt either the 

 designation of "plastids," proposed by Haecktl, or that of "bioplasts," 

 proposed by Beale. Perhaps it would be well to restrict the word 

 "bioplast" to a small mass of living matter exhibiting no differentia- 

 tion, and distinguish from it as " plastid " the larger mass showing an 

 interior structure more or less like the fully developed corpuscle. Thus, 

 I would always use the term " plastid " in the place of " cell. " 



The result of my investigations as to the structure of cartilage is that 

 in this tissue, beyond the possibility of a doubt, the living matter is 

 arranged in the form of a network, containing in its meshes the non- 

 contractile matter. How is it with regard to the other proposition of 

 the bioplasson doctrine, viz., that the living matter of the different 

 tissues is interconnected ? Examinations with high powers of such a 

 specimen as that represented in fig. i, showing the perichondrium of 

 horizontal sections through the larynx, or the neck, with skin and more 

 or less of other tissues included, enable me to answer this question to 

 the effect that fine filaments of living matter pass from one tissue to 

 another in connection with the network of living matter in each. The 

 details of these examinations are reserved for another time. But it has 

 been suggested to me that I ought not to conclude without saying a 

 few words as to the practical advantages of the Bioplasson Doctrine 

 over the Cell-Doctrine. Every exact scientific investigation, even 

 though at first of theoretical value only, sooner or later brings with it 

 some practical benefit ; and this doctrine of living matter, aside from 

 the satisfaction which the perception of abstract truth grants— lying 

 as it does at the foundation of our knowledge of living things — has 

 advanced their physiology and pathology at every point. In practical 

 medicine it has already aided us in so many ways that their merest 

 enumeration would require another hour's lecture. We know that the 

 disposition of living matter is different in different persons, and that in 

 the case of increased supply of food the reaction is different in strong 

 and healthy people from that in the sick and weak. Upon this 

 knowledge rests, to-day, the whole doctrine of pulmonary consianption. 

 Now, the amount of living matter within the same bulk varies greatly 

 both in normal and morbid conditions. A small lump of bioplasson in 

 the urine or expectoration, taken from an individual of good constitution, 

 will show a close network with coarse granulations, or perhaps be 

 almost homogeneous-looking under the microscope — owing to the large 

 amount of living matter in the small bulk : while a plastid, from a 



