690 GERMINAL MATTER AND FORMED MATERIAL. 



complex fabric of Man or other Vertebrates, yet it appears from 

 recent researches that in the latter, as in the former, the process of 

 Formation is essentially carried on by the instrumentality of pro- 

 toplasmic substance, universally diffused through it in such a 

 manner as to bear a close resemblance to the pseudopodial network 

 of the Rhizopod (Fig. 232) ; whilst the Tissues produced by its 

 agency lie, as it were, on the outside of this, bearing the same kind 

 of relation to it as the Foraminiferal Shell (Fig. 248) does to the 

 Sarcodic substance which fills its cavities and extends itself over 

 its surface. For it appears that the smallest living ' elementary 

 part ' of every Organized fabric is composed of Organic matter in two 

 states ; the one, which may be termed germinal matter, possessing 

 the power of selecting pabulum from the Blood, and of transforming 

 this either into the material of its own extension, or into some 

 product which it elaborates ; whilst the other, which may be termed 

 formed material, may present every gradation of character from 

 a mere Inorganic deposit to a highly Organized structure, but is in 

 every case altogether incapable of self-increase. A very definite 

 line of demarcation can be generally drawn between these two 

 substances by the careful use of the Staining-process (§ 145); but 

 there are many instances in which there is the same gradation 

 between the one and the other, as we have formerly noticed between 

 the ' Endosarc ' and the ' Ectosarc ' of the Amozba (§ 331). — Thus it 

 is on the ' germinal matter ' that the existence of every form of 

 Animal organization essentially depends ; since it serves as the 

 instrument by which the nutrient material furnished by the Blood 

 is converted into the several forms of Tissue. Like the Sarcode- 

 substance of the Rhizopods, it seems capable of indefinite extension; 

 and it may divide and subdivide into independent portions, each of 

 which may act as the instrument of formation of an 'elementary 

 part.' Two principal forms of such elementary parts present them- 

 selves in the fabric of the higher Animals, — namely, Cells and 

 Fibres; and it will be desirable to give a brief notice of these, 

 before proceeding to describe these more complex Tissues which 

 are the products of a higher elaboration.* 



* The doctrine here stated is that to which the Author has been led by 

 the comparison of the results of the recent inquiries of several British 

 and Continental Histologists, especially Prof. Beale and Prof. Max. 

 Schultze, with those of his own study of the Rhizopod and Echinoderm 

 types. Prof. Beale's views are most systematically expounded in his 

 lectures " On the Structure of the simple Tissues of the Human Body," 

 1861 ; in his " How to work with the Microscope," 4th Edition, 1868 ; and 

 in the Introductory portion of his new Edition of "Todd and Bowman's 

 Physiological Anatomy," 1867. The principal results of the inquiries of 

 German Histologists on this point are well stated in a Paper by Dr. 

 Duffin on 'Protoplasm, and the part it plays in the actions of Living 

 Beings,' in "Quart. Journ. of Microsc. Science," Vol. iii., N.S. (1863), 

 p. 251. — The Author feels it necessary, however, to express his dissent 

 from Prof. Beale's views in one important particular, — viz., his denial of 

 Vital endowments to the ' formed material ' of any of the Tissues. On 

 this point, however, as on the general relations between the differentiated 



