144 QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 
The author is led from this to experiment further on spon- 
taneous generation, and finds that vibriones are not produced 
in the white of egg enclosed ina glass tube, although they are 
produced when the white of egg is enclosed in an animal 
membrane. And from various other considerations he con- 
cludes that the development of microscopic organisms in an 
organized substance depends, not on the presence of atmo- 
spheric germs, but on the conditions necessary for the putre- 
faction of the organic matter, and confesses himself a 
supporter of the doctrine of heterogenesis. 
The paper below, from the ‘ Proceedings of the Royal 
Society,’ leads to other conclusions from similar experiments. 
Micrographic Society of Paris—MM. Magnan and Hayem 
publish a valuable paper read to this society, “ On the Inter- 
stitial Tissue of the White Parts of Nervous Centres,” in 
which the views of Remak, Valentin, Rokitansky, Virchow, 
Kolliker, and Robin, are discussed. 
ENGLAND.—Royal Society's Proceedings, January.— 
“ On the Formation of ‘ Cells’ in Animal Bodies. By E. 
Montgomery, M.D. ‘This paper is one of very great interest, 
and hence we give it in full. 
I. Observations.—So-called organic “ cells,”’ chiefly those 
of various cancerous tumours, were seen, on the addition of 
water, to expand to several times their original size, and at last 
to vanish altogether into the surrounding medium. The 
“nucleus ”’ did not always participate in this change, but at 
times remained unaltered, whilst the outer constituents of 
the “ cell”? were undergoing this process of expansion. This 
curious phenomenon of extreme dilatation is intelligible only 
on the supposition that the spherical bodies in question are 
in reality globules of a uniformly viscid material, which by 
imbibition swells out till at last its viscosity is overcome by 
the increasing liquefaction. In embryonic tissues and in 
various tumours, single ‘‘ nuclei’ were seen, each surrounded 
by a shred of granular matter. On the addition of water 
there would bulge from one of the margins of the granular 
mass a segment of a clear globule, which continued growing 
until it had become a full sphere, which ultimately detached 
itself, and was carried away by the currents. At other 
times no such separate globule would be emitted, but the 
entire granular shred would itself gradually assume the 
spherical shape, ultimately encompassing the “ nucleus,” and 
constituting with the same the most perfect typical “ cell.” 
Not only single “‘ nuclei” were found, each surrounded by a 
shred, but also clusters of two, four, or more were seen 
similarly enclosed by a proportionately large granular mass. 
