BENNKTT, ON THE MOLECULAR THEORY. 45 



Ascliei'sou, of Berlin^ wlio first discovered the important fact, 

 that the mere contact of oil and fluid albumen caused the 

 latter to coagulate in the form of a membrane, which he 

 called the haptogen membrane, from 'ATrro^ai, to come in 

 contact. A more complete mixture of two such drops pro- 

 duceSj as is Avell known, a white, opaque fluid or emulsion, 

 which in structure exactly resembles milk. That is to say, 

 it consists of molecules composed of a drop of oil surrounded 

 by a layer or membrane of coagulated albumen. Such 

 compound molecules possessing the property of endosmose 

 may therefore readil}^ be produced artificially, and by tritura- 

 tion can be reduced in size so as to resemble the elementary 

 molecules in chyle or in the yolk of the egg. If oil and 

 albumen be introduced into the stomach and intestinal canal, 

 they are always so reduced; and one of the objects of 

 digestion would appear to be separating from the food, and 

 rendering fluid, its oil and albumen, so as to produce the 

 chyle-molecules which are ultimately transformed into blood. 

 Indeed, everywhere in living organisms it may be observed 

 that oil and albumen, formed as secretions by plants, and 

 entering the bodies of animals as food, either separately or 

 imited, constitute the chief origin of molecular formations. 



Mr. Rainey has recently pointed out the condition which 

 causes molecular mineral matter to assume the form of 

 rounded, nuclear bodies.* This condition is viscosity. If 

 carbonate of lime be dissolved in water, the forms produced 

 on its precipitation are crystalline; but if the fluid be 

 glutinous, composed, for example, of fluid, gelatine, or gum, 

 the forms produced are oval or globular. Precipitations 

 made in this way on slides of glass closely resemble the 

 appearances called nuclear or cellular in different stages of 

 development. Mr. Rainey has further shown how starch- 

 granules are produced in the juices of vegetables by the 

 endosmose of gum into a cell containing a solution of 

 dextrine.f In the same manner that the contact of oil and 

 albumen produces oleo-albuminous molecules, so does the 

 contact of gum and dextrine precipitate starch-molecules. 

 In this manner we can comprehend how the mixture of 

 various organic fluids gives rise to particles of diff'erent 

 ■ kinds. 



Hystolytic molecules are the result of the transformation 

 and disintegration of fluid and solid substances by chemical 



* ' Oa the Mode of Formation of Shells of Animals, of Bone, and of 

 several other Structures, by a process of Molecular Coalescence, &c.' By 

 George Rainey, M.R.C.S. London, 1858, 



t 'Microscopical Journal,' 1859. 



