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plete. I have observed too in the early stages of fatty de- 

 generation of muscle that the oil-globules are disposed around 

 the nuclei, whence they spread so as soon to occupy an inter- 

 nuclear position in the axial canal, which is often as distinct 

 in the fibres of the heart as it is in the muscles of insects. 



These cells which thus retain their secretion ought no 

 longer to be spoken of simply as cells. They are glands 

 and reservoirs all in one, and I would propose to distinguish 

 them from other histological elements by calling them store- 

 cells. Structureless membrane or cell-wall is often formed 

 out of the original plasm of a cell during the process of 

 free-cell-formation, and such structures as long as they remain 

 entire are known as cell-capsules. These bodies get more 

 and more common as we descend in the animal and vege- 

 table kingdom, but among the higher forms they will probably 

 be found to be far more common than is at present believed, 

 particularly in connection with the development of those 

 glands which at present are so daringly described by a class 

 of stratification-physiologists who evolve diagrams with a 

 levity approaching to the imponderability of their con- 

 sciousness. 



Homogeneous or structureless membrane is also found 

 investing the muscular fibre, and here, too, it must be regarded 

 as a remnant of plasm. Any one who has carefully studied 

 the formation of muscle in the nucleated plasm of the 

 embryo cannot have failed to observe that the sarcous 

 matter is stored much in the same way as oil in adipose 

 tissue. In a very similar manner is elastic tissue formed. 

 At a comparatively late period no trace of this tissue can 

 be found. Then, within the plasm beside the nuclei we 

 recognise its first formation. Soon the fibres increase in 

 size, and the nuclei get further apart. At length the nuclei 

 dwindle, and many disappear, though some are left among 

 the sheathing to perform the very slight office required of 

 them in so very permanent a tissue. These observations 

 lead me to conclude that sarcous matter and elastic sub- 

 stance are as much secretions as the oil of adipose tissue or 

 the calcareous matter of shell. 



But let us return to the cell. At present we have only 

 treated of secretions insoluble in the fluids of the body, and 

 we have been obliged to give such prominence to this class 

 in consequence of the obvious difficulty in getting evidence 

 of the whereabouts of other cell-secretion. Still, we occa- 

 sionally get an opportunity of seeing bile in the plasm of the 

 liver-cell, and sometimes we observe other secretions exuding 

 from the plasm of cells. 



