Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sez. . 49 Nov. 21, 
—thus we may speak of blood-corpuscles, pus-corpuscles, etc. For all 
the accumulations of Jiving 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 Heckel, 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. 1, 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 consumption. 
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 
