CELLULAR TISSUE 233 



diversity of the movements or character of the fluids causing them, 

 finally to enlarge, elongate, divide, and gradually soHdify these canals 

 and organs. This is effected by the substances which are incessantly 

 being formed in the fluids, and are then separated from them, and 

 in part assimilated and united to the organs, while the remainder is 

 rejected " (Recfierches sur les corps vivants, pp. 8 and 9), 



I was equally justified when I said " that the state of organisation 

 in every living body has been gradually acquired by the increasing 

 influence of the movement of fluids (firstly in the cellular tissue and 

 afterwards in the organs formed in it), and by the constant changes 

 in the character and state of these fluids owing to the continual wastage 

 and renewals proceeding within them." 



Lastly, I was authorised by these principles in saying " that every 

 organisation and every new shape, acquired by this agency and contri- 

 buting circumstances, were preserved and transmitted by reproduction, 

 until yet further modifications had been acquired by the same method 

 and in new circumstances " {Recherches sur les corps vivants, p. 9). 



It follows from the above that the function of the movement of 

 fluids in Hving bodies, and consequently of organic movement, is not 

 merely the development of organisation, for this development continues 

 so long as the movement is not weakened, through the hardness which 

 overtakes the organs during life ; but that this movement of fluids 

 has in addition the faculty of gradually increasing the complexity 

 of organisation and of multiplying the organs and their functions 

 according as new modes of life or new habits acquired by individuals 

 stimulate it in various ways, create a necessity for new functions, and 

 consequently for new organs. 



Let me add that the faster the movement of fluids in a living body, 

 the more does it complicate the organisation, and the greater the branch- 

 ing of the vascular system. 



It is from the uninterrupted co-operation of these factors and of 

 long periods of time, combined \vith an infinite variety of environment, 

 that all the orders of living bodies have been successively formed. 



Vegetable Organisation is also cast in a Cellular Tissue. 



Imagine a cellular tissue in which, for various reasons,^ nature 

 could not establish irritability, and you will have an idea of the matrix 

 in which all vegetable organisation has been cast. 



If we then reflect that the movements of fluids in plants are only 



* Chemical analysis has shown that animal substances abound in nitrogen, while 

 vegetable substances are destitute of this material or contain only very small pro- 

 portions of it. Hence there is a distinct difference between animal and vegetable 

 substances : now this difference may be the reason why the factors which produce 

 orgasm and irritability in animals cannot estabhsh these faculties in living plants. 



