272 ABBEY, ON ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 
prepared to accept the equivalent offered by Dr. Beale, 
inasmuch as I believe that his “germinal matter” consists, 
not of one substance only, dyed by carmine, but of two—the 
one of which is dyed and the other is not. While agreeing 
with him that the nuclear mass of stained “germinal matter” 
is shaded off from that darkest pomt which represents the 
nucleolus, I am convinced that this shading consists of 
stippling, and not of tinting. Nor is this distinction so 
frivolous as it may seem at first sight. It is opposed to two 
of Dr. Beale’s conclusions—first, that the gradation of 
colour is due to the gradual transition of “‘ germinal matter ”’ 
into “formed matter; secondly, to use his own words, 
« As it is a fact that the colouring matter passes through all 
the outer layers, and is deposited in the greatest quantity in 
that central part which is at the greatest distance from the 
solution, it seems only reasonable to infer that pabulum 
takes the same course during life.” 
It is not a light matter to differ, even as to minor facts, 
from so experienced a microscopist and acute a physiologist ; 
nevertheless, I must give precedence to the evidence of my 
own eyes, aided by good and sufficient object-glasses. My 
own conclusions, as differing from those of Dr. Beale, may 
be thus summed up: 
1. The germinal matter, so called, consists of two parts— 
the one dyed by carmine, the other not so. 
2. It is not possible to demonstrate by means of dyeing 
agents the gradual transition of living matter into dead 
matter. 
3. The varying tints of the dyed nucleus are due to the 
greater or less dispersion of coloured molecules through the 
uncoloured substance; their close aggregation forming the 
nucleolus. 
4. The uncoloured portion of the “ germinal matter ” 
the product of the coloured portion. 
5. Nutrition is least active in the most deeply coloured 
part of the “ germinal matter.” 
After this declaration of belief we must, for the remainder 
of the paper, take leave of the phrase “ germinal matter,” 
its original definition conveying a meaning different to that 
which the actual substance seems to me to warrant. I 
propose to substitute the term ‘ nuclear matter,’ consisting 
of ‘ germinal molecules’ and ‘ germinal plasma.’ 
The nucleus proper is formed by the carmine-stained 
“germinal molecules” dispersed through the mass of un- 
stained germinal plasma, which they have produced. The 
nucleus may or may not contain the nucleolus, composed of 
