BY MOLECULAR COALESCENCE,. 143 
in the least distended, and where no mechanical injury 
had been done to it, it may be concluded, that this is its 
normal situation and natural appearances. And, more- 
over, as in this case, no force could have been employed 
either in kind, or in degree, sufficient to lacerate tubes, 
whose walls were possessed of a “considerable degree of 
toughness,” and thus cause the escape of their contents ; it 
is impossible that vessels from which, under such circum- 
stances, the contents had escaped, could have possessed 
the property of toughness; hence, there is an evident 
incongruity between the alleged fact of the toughness of 
these vessels, and their rupture under the circumstances 
here mentioned. Moreover, it can easily be shown by 
examination of the lens, a short time after the rupture of 
its capsule, that the “large irregular drops” referred to 
by Professor Kolhker, have a diameter many times greater 
than that of the fibres of the lens; and, consequently, if 
these had been tubes, as there is no reason to suppose they 
are, globules of such dimensions could never have been lodged 
in their interior. It is, therefore, obvious, that the views 
of Professor Kolliker concerning the minute structure of 
the lens, being entirely at variance with facts, are un- 
tenable. In concluding the account of these appearances, 
I may observe that, as the form and size of many of the 
parts extruded from the capsule of lens vary according 
to the time the endosmose and consequent distension 
has been in operation, the microscopical examination will 
require to be made almost continuously. This is the only 
way in which a correct knowledge of these appearances 
can be obtained, as after the cessation of the endosmose, 
the globular particles become granular, the transverse 
marking indistinet, and the general aspect of all the parts, 
with the exception of the dentated, fully formed fibres, 
