FURTHER REMARKS ON THE CELL-THEORY. 337 
nodes: ‘ Does he accept the logical consequences of this, and 
say of the epithelial cells of the salamander or of unstriped 
muscle fibres, that they are protoplasmic reticula with nuclei at 
their nodes ? ”’ 
Now, with all due respect to Mr. Bourne’s logical faculties, 
may I ask him where logic comes in here? If I describe 
London as a network of streets, with public-houses at many of 
the street corners, am I obliged by logic to give the same 
description of the Gog-Magog Hills ? 
However, on the next page Mr. Bourne makes up for all the 
hard strictures he has passed upon me; for he says that, after 
all, reflection may induce us to abandon the cell-republic or 
colonial theory ; thus he admits a very important part of my 
contention, for the assertion that organisms present a consti- 
tution which may be described as cellular is not a theory at all, 
it is a statement of fact (having agreed to the use of the word 
cellular). The theory comes in when we try and account for 
the cellular constitution of organisms; and it is this theoretical 
part of the cell-theory which I condemn, and which Mr. Bourne 
after a great effort agrees with me in condemning. At the 
same time it is possible that we might still disagree as to the 
meaning of the word cellular. 
May I call attention to Mr. Bourne’s remarkable faith in 
the rapidity of evolutionary changes? He says (page 169) 
that Schwann’s assertion that “the elementary parts of all 
tissues are formed of cells, &c.,” is even more true to-day 
than when it was written. Also I should like to know how he 
reconciles the implication at the top of page 170, that 
“specialisation is not possible in continuous tracts of proto- 
plasm,” with the statement a few lines further on, that ‘in the 
Protozoa there is differentiation within the limits of a single 
corpuscle.”’ 
The criticism on page 172 as to my use of the word empty 
is not quite fair. On reference to the context it will be seen 
that the word empty clearly means “empty of structural 
elements.” 
