CHAPTER IV 



ON THE INTERNAL FORM AND STRUCTURE OF THE CELL 



In the early days of the cell-theory, more than seventy years 

 ago, Goodsir was wont to speak of cells as "centres of growth" 

 or "centres of nutrition," and to consider them as essentially 

 "centres of force." He looked forward to a time when the forces 

 connected with the cell should be particularly investigated : when, 

 that is to say, minute anatomy should be studied in its dynamical 

 aspect. "When this branch of enquiry," he says "shall have 

 been opened up, we shall expect to have a science of organic 

 forces, having direct relation to anatomy, the science of organic 

 •forms*." And likewise, long afterwards, Giard contemplated a 

 science of mor'phodynamique, — but still looked upon it as forming 

 so guarded and hidden a "territoire scientifique, que la plupart 

 des naturalistes de nos jours ne le verront que comme Moise vit 

 la terre promise, seulement de loin et sans pouvoir y entrerf." 



To the external forms of cells, and to the forces which produce 

 and modify these forms, we shall pay attention in a later chapter. 

 But there are forms and configurations of matter within the cell, 

 which also deserve to be studied with due regard to the forces, 

 known or unknown, of whose resultant they are the visible 

 expression. 



In the long interval since Goodsir's day, the visible structure, 

 the conformation and configuration, of the cell, has been studied 

 far more abundantly than the purely dynamic problems that are 

 associated therewith. The overwhelming progress of microscopic 

 observation has multiplied our knowledge of cellular and intra- 

 cellular structure ; and to the multitude of visible structures it 



* Anatomical and Pathological Observations, p. 3, 1845; Anatomical Memoirs, 

 n, p. 392, 18G8. 



t Giard. A., L'oeuf et les debuts de revolution, Bull. Sci. du Nord de la Fr. 

 VIII, pp. 252-258, 1876. 



